Weitz Investment Management Inc. Invests $74.65 Million in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Weitz Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 145,350 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $74,652,000. Mastercard comprises approximately 5.2% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,160,657,000 after buying an additional 123,528 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $554.00 to $633.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $632.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $664.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 71,357 shares of company stock valued at $40,637,262 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $542.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $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 price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.15 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.14%.

Mastercard Profile

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.