Wulff Hansen & CO. Sells 130 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Wulff Hansen & CO. cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 765 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. VitalStone Financial LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 60 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $497.14 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $359.77 and a 52-week high of $501.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $467.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $461.24. The company has a market capitalization of $462.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 138,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.19, for a total value of $62,540,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 92,152,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,762,504,462.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,809 shares of company stock valued at $222,150,923 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. William Blair raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas downgraded Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.08.

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.