Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Buys New Shares in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC recently acquired a new stake in Mastercard, purchasing 627 shares valued at approximately $352,000 during the second quarter.
• Mastercard reported better-than-expected earnings for the last quarter, with an EPS of $4.15, surpassing analysts' estimates of $4.05.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 0.5% and will be paid on November 7th.

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 627 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3,493.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $524,914,000 after purchasing an additional 908,116 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after purchasing an additional 907,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,391 shares of company stock valued at $20,836,514 over the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.6%

MA opened at $581.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $525.30 billion, a PE ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The company's 50-day moving average is $580.26 and its 200 day moving average is $561.67.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $630.89.

About Mastercard

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.

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