Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,648 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $42,503,787,000 after acquiring an additional 365,537 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Mastercard by 4.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,508,636,000 after acquiring an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.05, for a total value of $3,328,555.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 58,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,636,125.55. This represents a 13.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This trade represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 49,094 shares of company stock valued at $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.6%

MA stock opened at $586.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $530.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $575.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $558.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.50%.

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.