Sheets Smith Wealth Management Cuts Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 74.0% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mastercard from $540.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $540.17.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.3 %

MA opened at $524.76 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $499.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $468.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $481.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $386.74 and a fifty-two week high of $528.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 327,370 shares of company stock worth $153,495,958 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.