Clark Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Clark Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Clark Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth approximately $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 3,493.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $524,914,000 after acquiring an additional 908,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after acquiring an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. 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 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $638.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $571.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $579.25 and a 200 day moving average of $566.75. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $516.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.