GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Grows Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,288 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 70,472 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,108,000 after acquiring an additional 7,452 shares during the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth $73,000. Trustco Bank Corp N Y bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,632,000 after purchasing an additional 3,962 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 959 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.86, for a total transaction of $549,372.74. Following the transaction, the insider owned 25,540 shares in the company, valued at $14,630,844.40. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,269 shares of company stock valued at $30,634,699 over the last quarter. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $617.93.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $595.92 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $568.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $556.57. The stock has a market cap of $538.71 billion, a PE ratio of 40.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

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.