Sapient Capital LLC Has $52.87 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Sapient Capital LLC reduced its holdings in Mastercard by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, owning 94,083 shares valued at approximately $52.87 million.
• Mastercard's latest earnings report indicated a $4.15 EPS, surpassing estimates, with quarterly revenue reaching $8.13 billion, a 16.8% increase year-over-year.
• Insiders have sold a total of 49,094 shares of Mastercard stock recently, indicating a potential decrease in confidence among executives, while institutional investors hold 97.28% of the stock.

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,083 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 2,197 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up about 0.9% of Sapient Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $52,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at $31,000. 10Elms LLP acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MA shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. KeyCorp increased their target price on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:MA traded down $2.17 during 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 stock has a market cap of $527.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $577.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $559.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.50 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,921 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,717 shares of company stock valued at $22,684,831. Corporate 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.