Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Mastercard by 0.6%, owning 5,094,377 shares worth approximately $2.79 billion after selling 29,850 shares in Q1.
• Several firms upgraded their ratings on Mastercard, with UBS raising the price target to $670 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy" across multiple analysts.
• Mastercard reported earnings of $4.15 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $8.13 billion, reflecting a 16.8% year-over-year increase.

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,094,377 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 29,850 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.56% of Mastercard worth $2,792,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $650.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $626.54.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.3%

MA stock traded up $1.59 during trading on Thursday, hitting $594.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,779,662. The firm has a market capitalization of $537.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.11, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $570.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $557.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm's revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,481 shares of company stock worth $32,616,595 over the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is 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.