Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,441 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,115 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.0% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $36,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Robbins Farley increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% during the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 45.2% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MA. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Down 2.4%

MA stock opened at $535.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $564.13. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $480.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.82 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.07%.

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.