AIA Group Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 64.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,038 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $30,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% during the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,939 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 479 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,625,225. This represents a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.92.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $543.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $480.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $503.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $516.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

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.