Emerald Advisors LLC Sells 35 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Emerald Advisors LLC reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 670 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $630.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MA opened at $568.04 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $513.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $579.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $560.85.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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