Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by AXS Investments LLC

AXS Investments LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,606 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,646 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.3% of AXS Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,324,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $497,311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 3.0%

MA opened at $551.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $486.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $503.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $516.04.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Mastercard from $671.00 to $664.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.92.

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.