Freedom Investment Management Inc. Trims Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Mastercard by 8.3% in the second quarter, owning 4,911 shares valued at approximately $2.76 million after selling 446 shares.
• Multiple hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Mastercard, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its stake by 0.5% and Wellington Management Group LLP boosting their position by 38.6%.
• Mastercard recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with the payout ratio currently at 20.50%, and the dividend yield at 0.5%.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,911 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 446 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $42,503,787,000 after buying an additional 365,537 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $650.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $638.00.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3%

Mastercard stock opened at $570.57 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $579.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.14. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $515.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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