Howe & Rusling Inc. Has $10.12 Million Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,458 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $10,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MA. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,508,636,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $561,313,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after purchasing an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock valued at $26,521,861. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MA. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.54.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MA stock opened at $589.12 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $532.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $574.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $558.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

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.