64,596 Shares in Mastercard Incorporated $MA Acquired by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 64,596 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,276,000. Mastercard accounts for about 1.7% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% in the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,089,000 after buying an additional 9,504 shares during the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its position in Mastercard by 6.1% during the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Mastercard by 5.4% in the first 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total value of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,806,033.28. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The sale 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 J. Mehra Sachin sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 40,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. This represents a 15.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 71,357 shares of company stock valued at $40,637,262 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $632.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $664.71.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $524.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $542.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $518.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $601.62.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.14%.

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.