Victrix Investment Advisors Sells 32 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Victrix Investment Advisors lessened its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,563 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,179,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,640,219,000 after purchasing an additional 377,302 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,267,937 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,725,627,000 after buying an additional 912,856 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,800,202,000 after acquiring an additional 282,739 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $6,022,224,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,760,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,139,713,000 after acquiring an additional 817,836 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total transaction of $3,328,555.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,636,125.55. The trade was a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $536,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,765,920. This represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,383 shares of company stock worth $19,035,108. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MA shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $652.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $611.50.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MA opened at $546.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $498.44 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $562.44 and its 200 day moving average is $545.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $594.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.21% and a return on equity of 196.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.32%.

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.