Principle Wealth Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. 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 report on Monday, October 6th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $638.00.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $570.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $515.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.47, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $579.88 and a 200-day moving average of $564.14.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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