Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Sold by Garde Capital Inc.

Garde Capital Inc. lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 39.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 261 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 80,549 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,790,000 after buying an additional 24,877 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 263.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 208,669 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $100,489,000 after purchasing an additional 151,315 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 112,250 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $54,056,000 after purchasing an additional 6,632 shares during the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 61,907 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $29,813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orleans Capital Management Corp LA lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 42.6% during the 1st quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 7,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.23, for a total transaction of $134,169.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,095.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.23, for a total transaction of $134,169.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,095.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.43, for a total transaction of $48,557,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 94,014,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,500,735,980.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,462,228 shares of company stock valued at $1,110,349,560. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $549.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Bank of America cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $505.00 to $480.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. William Blair raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.27.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MA traded down $0.39 on Friday, hitting $462.02. 3,808,080 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,706,904. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $429.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $446.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $456.63. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $359.77 and a 1 year high of $490.00.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.34 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.99%.

Mastercard 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.