Cannell & Spears LLC Has $7.84 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Cannell & Spears LLC cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,894 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,932,000 after buying an additional 2,931 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after buying an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 138,842 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,692,629.36. The trade was a 15.67 % 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. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target (up previously from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, DZ Bank raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of MA opened at $540.57 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $550.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $527.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $492.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $582.23.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

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.