Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Acquired by Heritage Investment Group Inc.

Heritage Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 835 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Heritage Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldstein Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $834,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 827 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 455 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Pan Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho upped their price target on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,970,017,774.60. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $521.89. 2,408,193 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,452,135. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $471.04. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $395.55 and a 12 month high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Mastercard 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.