Rockingstone Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Rockingstone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Rockingstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Mastercard by 213.2% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 8,456 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,756 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Mastercard by 6.9% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 41,250 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,865,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 14.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter worth $608,000. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 48.6% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $497.06 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $359.77 and a fifty-two week high of $501.80. The company has a market capitalization of $462.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $477.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $462.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value 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 $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard 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 directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total transaction of $42,192,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Mastercard from $530.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $517.22.

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.