Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,913 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.6% during the first quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 718 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 632 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 0.6% during the second quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,601,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 0.8% during the second quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.8% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.04.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE:MA opened at $556.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $503.35 billion, a PE ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $581.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $562.86. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.50%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of Mastercard 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.