X Square Capital LLC Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

X Square Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $819,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Novem Group grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% during the second quarter. Novem Group now owns 4,680 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MA. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $664.71.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $542.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $518.46. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62. The firm has a market cap of $524.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.14%.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.