Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,857 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 496 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $22,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Curio Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 22,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,463 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value 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 represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $641.93.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $554.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $577.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $501.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.