Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stake Reduced by Argent Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in Mastercard (NYSE:MA) by 0.8%, holding now 224,130 shares valued at approximately $125.9 million, making it their 4th largest position.
• Insider trading was notable as Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick and Julius Genachowski sold a combined total of 1,270 shares recently, reflecting decreases of 3.90% and 3.55% in their holdings respectively.
• Mastercard has received multiple positive analyst ratings, with an average price target of $630.89 and several experts upgrading their ratings from "hold" to "buy" or "strong-buy."

Argent Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 224,130 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 1,775 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises 3.6% of Argent Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $125,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,421,213,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after buying an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $561,313,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,229,440. This represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,449 shares of company stock valued at $21,974,441. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MA. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $584.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $528.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. The business's fifty day moving average is $577.86 and its 200 day moving average is $559.42. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be 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 is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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