First Bank & Trust Lowers Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

First Bank & Trust lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,881 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 123 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 0.8% of First Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. 10Elms LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $626.54.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $536,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,624 shares in the company, valued at $13,229,440. This trade represents a 3.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,094 shares of company stock worth $26,521,861. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE MA opened at $583.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $527.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.99. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $574.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $558.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.50%.

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.