Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Mastercard Put Options (NYSE:MA)

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 13,631 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 9,020 put options.

Mastercard Trading Down 4.7%

NYSE:MA traded down $27.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $561.50. The stock had a trading volume of 5,902,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,616,055. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $594.71. The company has a market capitalization of $511.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.42, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $555.17 and a 200 day moving average of $543.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. The company had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.31 earnings per share. Mastercard's revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $588.18, for a total value of $5,545,361.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,379,709.18. The trade was a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.00, for a total value of $87,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,887,900. This represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,686 shares of company stock worth $26,430,428. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $42,503,787,000 after acquiring an additional 365,537 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,267,937 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,725,627,000 after acquiring an additional 912,856 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $9,800,202,000 after acquiring an additional 282,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Mastercard by 38.6% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $610.00.

Mastercard Company 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.