PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd Grows Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 33.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,025 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 5.5% of PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.87, for a total transaction of $1,715,610.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,398,632.92. This trade represents a 6.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. This trade represents a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 62,913 shares of company stock worth $35,769,036 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Clear Str upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $661.93.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $563.01 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $531.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $516.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend 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.