Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,984 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MA. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $641.93.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $554.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $501.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $577.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $567.43. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Mastercard

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.