Level Four Advisory Services LLC Has $8.90 Million Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 2.9% during the first quarter, now owning 16,231 shares valued at approximately $8.9 million.
• Mastercard's stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with price targets ranging from $610 to $661.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, yielding an annualized rate of 0.5%.

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,231 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 2.6% during the first quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 718 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 632 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 1.8% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 3.6% during the first quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 540 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, May Hill Capital LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 2.0% during the first quarter. May Hill Capital LLC now owns 986 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $13,229,440. This trade represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,269 shares of company stock valued at $30,634,699 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $617.93.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA traded up $6.2280 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $598.1480. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,388,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,623,511. The stock has a market capitalization of $540.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $564.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $555.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $461.90 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.