Elefante Mark B Invests $8.37 Million in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Elefante Mark B bought a new position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 16,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,372,000. Mastercard accounts for about 3.6% of Elefante Mark B’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Betterment LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the second quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 35.8% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $380,548,000 after acquiring an additional 178,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter worth $431,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total transaction of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,806,033.28. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 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 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $598.69 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $542.94 and its 200 day 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 stock 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 twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.62.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $701.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $664.71.

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.