Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich Lowers Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 20.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 84,816 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 21,682 shares during the quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $43,561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the second quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Novem Group boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.4% in the second quarter. Novem Group now owns 4,680 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.5% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Five equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $661.93.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,806,033.28. The trade was 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 have sold 62,913 shares of company stock valued at $35,769,036. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $563.01 on Tuesday. 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 Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $531.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $516.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid 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 dividend 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.