Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 164.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,635 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $15,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,544,675 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $42,503,787,000 after purchasing an additional 365,537 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 valued at $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $4,238,764,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MA shares. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.26.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $551.98 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $572.24 and a 200-day moving average of $568.95. The company has a market cap of $499.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.