Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 136 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,275 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 32,071 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $13,679,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Parthenon LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 17,211 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,341,000 after buying an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 114,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.57, for a total transaction of $52,732,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,767,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,761,653,661.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 16,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.94, for a total transaction of $7,632,649.78. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,644.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 114,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.57, for a total transaction of $52,732,980.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,767,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,761,653,661.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 467,088 shares of company stock valued at $215,249,338 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $478.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $545.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.14.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.0 %

MA stock opened at $442.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $357.85 and a twelve month high of $490.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $412.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $470.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $437.42.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.60% and a return on equity of 191.22%. The firm had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.32%.

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.