Korea Investment CORP Sells 43,760 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Korea Investment CORP cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 586,876 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 43,760 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.7% of Korea Investment CORP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of Mastercard worth $329,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Mastercard by 38.6% during 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 buying an additional 3,765,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $652.50.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $545.56 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $560.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $568.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders 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 (DPR) is 19.44%.

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.