Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Decreases Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d'investissement inc. reduced its stake in Mastercard by 6.3% in Q2, holding 8,120 shares worth $4.56 million.
• Mastercard reported $4.15 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue rising 16.8% year-over-year to $8.13 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, set to be paid on November 7th, with a yield of 0.5%.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,120 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 542 shares during the quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 10Elms LLP acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MA. KeyCorp upped their price target on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $630.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,229,440. This trade represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,717 shares of company stock worth $22,684,831 over the last quarter. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA traded down $2.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $583.88. 6,744,713 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,785,187. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $527.83 billion, a PE ratio of 39.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.99. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $576.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.89. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. Mastercard's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.