Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Reduces Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda cut its Mastercard stake by 89.9% in the first quarter, selling 5,540 shares and leaving it with 625 shares valued at about $312,000.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 topping estimates and revenue of $8.40 billion also beating expectations; revenue rose 15.8% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share, payable August 7, while Wall Street maintains a Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $653.92.

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 89.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 625 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 5,540 shares during the quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda's holdings in Mastercard were worth $312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swan Global Investments LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 14.9% during the first quarter. Swan Global Investments LLC now owns 654 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 102,985 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $51,457,000 after purchasing an additional 37,969 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,111,216,000 after buying an additional 42,871 shares during the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 71,670 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $35,811,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 19,083 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $9,535,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MA stock opened at $547.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $483.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $515.59. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. Weiss Ratings downgraded Mastercard from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $679.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $653.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,702,934.17. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.

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