J. Mehra Sachin Sells 1,000 Shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.07, for a total value of $572,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 39,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,834,746.12. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

J. Mehra Sachin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 19th, J. Mehra Sachin sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72.
• On Wednesday, August 5th, J. Mehra Sachin sold 3,000 shares of Mastercard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $571.87, for a total value of $1,715,610.00.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.1%

Mastercard stock traded up $0.61 on Thursday, hitting $574.33. 2,612,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,690,343. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The firm has a market cap of $503.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $535.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $517.37. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Mastercard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $661.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the second quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Novem Group raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% in the second quarter. Novem Group now owns 4,680 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company 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.