Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Purchased by Lincoln National Corp

Lincoln National Corp grew its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 18.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,641 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,011 shares during the quarter. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 43,445.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,936,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,252,525,000 after buying an additional 2,929,940 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Mastercard by 3,339.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 815,506 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $322,867,000 after purchasing an additional 791,799 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,746,342 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $691,394,000 after purchasing an additional 569,534 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,966,348 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,153,957,000 after purchasing an additional 515,481 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,839,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $728,113,000 after acquiring an additional 428,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $478.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $525.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $496.27.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.3 %

MA traded up $5.79 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $449.37. The stock had a trading volume of 2,513,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,473,001. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $469.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $419.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $357.85 and a 1-year high of $490.00.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.34 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.09% and a return on equity of 183.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total value of $3,736,447.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total value of $3,736,447.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 142,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $442.14, for a total transaction of $62,783,880.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,377,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,612,262,959.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 725,088 shares of company stock valued at $329,657,858 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.