Foundation Mastercard Sells 111,000 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Stock

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 111,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.15, for a total transaction of $50,743,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 97,432,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,541,179,602.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Foundation Mastercard also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 21st, Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total transaction of $97,450.00.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MA traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $455.14. 908,433 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,386,509. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $471.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $433.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $357.85 and a fifty-two week high of $490.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The company has a market capitalization of $424.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.60% and a return on equity of 191.22%. The company had revenue of $6.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 22.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $504.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $432.00 to $499.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MA. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. VitalStone Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 60 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.