Grafton Street Partners Fund LP Purchases 3,400 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Grafton Street Partners Fund LP increased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,152 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for 4.4% of Grafton Street Partners Fund LP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Grafton Street Partners Fund LP’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after buying an additional 138,842 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 48.6% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,854,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total value of $42,192,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 327,370 shares of company stock valued at $153,495,958. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $529.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $501.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $469.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $485.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $393.02 and a 1-year high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MA shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $540.17.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.