Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,319 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 378 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Mastercard Stock Down 0.2 %

Mastercard stock traded down $1.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $451.97. 627,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,450,254. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $357.85 and a 12-month high of $490.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $468.64 and a 200 day moving average of $439.23. The firm has a market cap of $421.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 16,037 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.94, for a total transaction of $7,632,649.78. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,644.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 16,037 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.94, for a total transaction of $7,632,649.78. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,644.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total transaction of $3,736,447.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 872,088 shares of company stock worth $395,452,118 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Mastercard from $432.00 to $499.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $520.00 to $510.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.27.

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.