Waverly Advisors LLC Acquires 3,295 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 138.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,676 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,295 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,179,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $40,640,219,000 after acquiring an additional 377,302 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,267,937 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,725,627,000 after acquiring an additional 912,856 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,800,202,000 after acquiring an additional 282,739 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $6,022,224,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,760,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,139,713,000 after purchasing an additional 817,836 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. DZ Bank raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.25.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $569.43 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $588.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $519.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.00, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $538.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $536.96.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. The firm had revenue of $7.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.00, for a total transaction of $87,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,887,900. This represents a 4.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,207 shares of company stock worth $12,664,529 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.