Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC

Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,800 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $10,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price target on Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Macquarie upped their price target on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $647.89.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $552.59 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 quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $576.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.06. The firm has a market cap of $499.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a PEG 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

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.