AMI Asset Management Corp Sells 1,265 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

AMI Asset Management Corp reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,324 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,265 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 2.4% of AMI Asset Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. AMI Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $42,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. KRS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Nvest Financial LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 5.6% in the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 13.0% during the second quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $657.48.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $579.38 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $520.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $555.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.87.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.44%.

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.