Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 5,806 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Gateway Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard by 13.2%, selling 5,806 shares during the last quarter, leaving them with 38,106 shares valued at approximately $21.4 million.
• Insider sales at Mastercard included Director Julius Genachowski selling 312 shares and CFO J. Mehra Sachin selling 17,263 shares, reflecting a 3.55% and 35.60% decrease in their respective ownerships.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $4.15 EPS, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share to be paid in November.

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,106 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 5,806 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $21,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $4,508,636,000 after buying an additional 8,213,123 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $7,413,936,000 after buying an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,313,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $536,480.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock worth $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE MA traded down $12.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $586.39. The company had a trading volume of 3,294,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,233,542. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $530.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.99. The company's fifty day moving average is $576.55 and its 200-day moving average is $558.89.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

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.