Value Partners Investments Inc. Purchases 331 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,694 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 10Elms LLP bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.54.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $580.75 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $574.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.33. The firm has a market cap of $525.00 billion, a PE ratio of 39.16, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,229,440. This represents a 3.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,094 shares of company stock worth $26,521,861 in the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.