Clare Market Investments LLC Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,238 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after buying an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in 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 valued at $2,324,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $497,311,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 target price for the company. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $654.58.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $538.66 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $475.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $497.92 and a 200-day moving average of $518.61. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.73 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,625,225. This represents a 22.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.