Procyon Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Procyon Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Mastercard by 43.0% during the second quarter, now holding 4,634 shares valued at approximately $2.6 million.
• Mastercard's stock has a current consensus rating of "Buy", with a target price of $630.89, as various analysts have rated the company positively.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.5%, to be paid out on November 7th.

Procyon Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 43.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,634 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,490 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 718 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 632 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.8% during the 1st 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 during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, May Hill Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the 1st 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 during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:MA traded down $2.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $583.88. 6,744,713 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,280,804. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $577.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $559.09. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company has a market capitalization of $527.83 billion, a PE ratio of 39.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. Mastercard's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,717 shares of company stock valued at $22,684,831. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

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.