Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 145.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $259,071,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $203,198,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,586,107,000 after buying an additional 387,317 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5 %

MA stock opened at $516.34 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $359.77 and a fifty-two week high of $518.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $486.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $480.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total transaction of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at $43,113,923,465.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $531.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.64.

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.