Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by German American Bancorp Inc.

German American Bancorp Inc. cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,513 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 7,635 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 1.4% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $16,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 45.2% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MA shares. Evercore set a $610.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $549.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $555.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $564.31. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.