Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires 255 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 47.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 794 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 255 shares during the quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 72.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,293,103 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $726,606,000 after buying an additional 541,687 shares in the last quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the second quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd now owns 10,551 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,806,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. Brio Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% during the second quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 450 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 46.0% in the 2nd quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 667 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 563,116 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $316,437,000 after purchasing an additional 5,333 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MA shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Macquarie upped their price target on Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.26.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $551.98 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The stock has a market cap of $499.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $572.24 and its 200-day moving average is $569.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. This represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.