Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 4,890 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 333,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,890 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $164,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 15,918 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,860,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Tidemark LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 41.7% in the third quarter. Tidemark LLC now owns 119 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 7.6% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 7,932 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,917,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management raised its holdings in Mastercard by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 2,385 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MA. Compass Point began coverage on Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer began coverage on Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, William Blair upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MA stock traded down $3.62 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $518.27. The company had a trading volume of 135,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,441,428. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $398.26 and a 1-year high of $534.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $504.09 and a 200 day moving average of $471.38. The firm has a market cap of $475.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total value of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. The trade was a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,370 shares of company stock worth $46,797,168 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard 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.