Hennessy Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,700 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 24.9% in the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,739 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $953,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter worth approximately $164,000. Verum Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.6% in the first quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 980 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% in the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,349 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $581.08 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $580.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $561.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $525.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick 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. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.