56,288 Shares in Mastercard Incorporated $MA Acquired by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 56,288 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,910,000. Mastercard accounts for approximately 1.1% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 7.3% during the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,089,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504 shares during the period. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its stake in Mastercard by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,328,000. Charles Lim Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,699,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Mastercard by 5.4% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $14,093,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $701.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $664.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 7,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $542.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $518.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The firm has a market cap of $524.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.62.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.