Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 830,162 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,819 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 0.7% of Fifth Third Bancorp’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $457,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Financial Group bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $660.63 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $575.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $681.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $597.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $541.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total value of $217,038.71. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 40,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,613,851.08. This trade represents a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

These are some of the MA stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target to $764 from $730 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, signaling confidence in Mastercard’s prospects. Read more about Bernstein’s price target
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is partnering with Sage and Adyen on small-business financial services. Mastercard will provide the card network for Sage business debit cards, while Adyen supplies banking infrastructure for the initial French rollout. Read about the Sage, Adyen and Mastercard partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships broaden Mastercard’s business-banking reach, including a BMO commercial card in Canada and Citizens’ treasury-management collaboration using Mastercard technology. Read about Mastercard’s business-banking partnerships

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Freedom Broker downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $701.00 target price (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Mastercard from $667.00 to $726.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Mastercard from $720.00 to $755.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.21.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.