Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Purchased by Castle Wealth Management LLC

Castle Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 464 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.9% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 31,384 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,202,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 10.6% in the first quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 292 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 3.7% in the first quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 175,760 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $96,337,000 after acquiring an additional 6,337 shares during the last quarter. Clark Asset Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.9% in the first quarter. Clark Asset Management LLC now owns 5,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Smart Money Group LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $826,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MA. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Macquarie cut their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $611.50.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.86, for a total transaction of $549,372.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,630,844.40. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.00, for a total value of $173,910.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,669,203. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,441 shares of company stock valued at $20,173,035. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $561.75 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $512.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.02. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $594.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $565.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $546.00.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.32%.

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.