Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $654,000 Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 36.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,163 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 654 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,391 shares of company stock worth $20,836,514 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $577.76 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $580.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $561.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $522.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 20.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.89.

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.