Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.8% during the 3rd 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. purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its position 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 valued at $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The trade was a 21.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $526.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $483.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $404.32 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $507.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $474.33.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.39 EPS. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

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.