Meitav Investment House Ltd. Raises Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 80,922 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,140 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $40,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MA stock traded up $3.35 on Tuesday, hitting $536.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,537,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,859,862. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $497.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $518.61. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $474.00 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.31.

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.