Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 84,651 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Tandem Investment Advisors cut its Mastercard stake by 42.8% in Q1, selling 84,651 shares and leaving it with 113,111 shares valued at about $56.5 million.
• Mastercard insiders also sold shares recently, including Sandra A. Arkell and Raj Seshadri, both in pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans; insiders now own just 0.09% of the company.
• The company reported a strong quarter with EPS of $4.60 and revenue of $8.40 billion, both above estimates, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a Buy consensus and a target price of $653.92.

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 42.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,111 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 84,651 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 2.8% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $56,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% in the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $70,089,000 after buying an additional 9,504 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $130,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 396.3% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $26,343,000 after acquiring an additional 36,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,328,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976 in the last quarter. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $605.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays started coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $640.00 target price for the company. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $653.92.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

MA opened at $543.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $480.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $503.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $516.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard's payout ratio is 20.14%.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.

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