Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,253 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in Mastercard by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 70,472 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,108,000 after buying an additional 7,452 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Trustco Bank Corp N Y purchased a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $569.18 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $564.40 and a 200 day moving average of $552.67. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $449.04 and a 52 week high of $594.71. The company has a market cap of $518.93 billion, a PE ratio of 38.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 25,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,630,844.40. This trade represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 14,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.05, for a total transaction of $8,220,537.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 58,451 shares in the company, valued at $34,196,757.55. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,603 shares of company stock worth $20,265,667 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.