Conning Inc. Sells 67 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Conning Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,805 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,226,000 after buying an additional 2,493 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at $624,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its position in Mastercard by 121.4% during the 1st quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 1,948 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MA. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.04.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $556.80 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The stock has a market cap of $503.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $581.01 and a 200 day moving average of $562.77. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.95 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.50 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.50%.

About Mastercard

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.