Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 34,933 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,363 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 1.2% of Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $17,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after purchasing an additional 349,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $632.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $661.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $575.00, for a total value of $8,838,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,873,475. The trade was a 14.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction 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 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,913 shares of company stock valued at $35,769,036. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $563.01 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $531.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $516.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $493.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.84 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 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.