Vulcan Value Partners LLC Has $258.32 Million Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 31.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 502,961 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 119,782 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 7.9% of Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $258,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Betterment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $380,548,000 after acquiring an additional 178,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $431,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $666.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,613,851.08. This represents a 15.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total transaction of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 74,623 shares of company stock worth $42,544,606. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MA traded down $8.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $570.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,705,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,620,135. The business has a fifty day moving average of $561.02 and a 200 day moving average of $522.20. The company has a market cap of $499.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The business 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%.Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global technology company that operates a payments network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payment transactions, including credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, by providing the infrastructure used to authorize, clear and settle transactions.

Mastercard’s products and services include its Mastercard-branded payment cards, digital payment tools, contactless payment technology and payment solutions for businesses and governments.