Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. has reduced its stake in Mastercard by 35.1%, selling 111,930 shares and now holding 206,656 shares valued at approximately $113 million.
• Mastercard's latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting an EPS of $4.15 against an estimate of $4.05, with revenues reaching $8.13 billion, up 16.8% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, translating to an annual dividend of $3.04, with a payout ratio of 20.50%.

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 35.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 206,656 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 111,930 shares during the quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $113,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 14,678 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $7,729,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Fortis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida increased its stake in Mastercard by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 693 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,870 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, June 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.93.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA traded up $5.4110 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $597.3310. 1,251,980 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,796,195. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $563.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $555.47. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $461.90 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $539.99 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of Mastercard 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,269 shares of company stock valued at $30,634,699. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

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.