Assetmark Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 244,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,025 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $122,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 820.0% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. First Pacific Financial raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $551.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $503.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $516.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company has a market cap of $486.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $671.00 to $664.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.92.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.