Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by NFSG Corp

Key Points

• NFSG Corp cut its Mastercard stake by 93.3% in the first quarter, leaving it with just 253 shares valued at about $127,000.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 topping estimates and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 15.8% year over year.
• Wall Street remains bullish on the stock, with analysts assigning an average Buy rating and a consensus price target of $653.92, while the company also declared a $0.87 quarterly dividend.

NFSG Corp reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 93.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 253 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,545 shares during the period. NFSG Corp's holdings in Mastercard were worth $127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,324,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $497,311,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 3.0%

Mastercard stock opened at $551.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $503.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $516.04. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $486.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $605.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $597.00 price objective for the company. Barclays initiated coverage on Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $640.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $653.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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