Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 22.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,385 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,551 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,916 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $13,948,000 after buying an additional 4,809 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 20.6% in the first quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 269 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at about $54,060,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 15,494 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,743,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% during the first quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 18,503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $489.15 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $432.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $497.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $519.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MA. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.08.

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.