Bell Bank Grows Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Bell Bank lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,696 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 145.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $784,148,000 after buying an additional 1,053,616 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth approximately $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Mastercard by 13.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after acquiring an additional 387,317 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MA opened at $521.50 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $394.76 and a 52-week high of $534.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $501.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $469.88. The company has a market capitalization of $478.65 billion, a PE ratio of 39.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total transaction of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 327,370 shares of company stock valued at $153,495,958. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Mastercard from $540.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $540.17.

About Mastercard

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.