Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd.

SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,700 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 7.0% of SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its position in Mastercard by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $70,089,000 after buying an additional 9,504 shares in the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its stake in Mastercard by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after buying an additional 3,768 shares during the period. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE MA opened at $563.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $531.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $516.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $493.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $661.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 3,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.87, for a total value of $1,715,610.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,398,632.92. The trade was a 6.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at $17,781,695.49. This trade represents a 12.07% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,913 shares of company stock worth $35,769,036. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Mastercard

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.