Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.24 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,198 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $581.08 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $580.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $561.85. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $525.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued 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 is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MA. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard 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.