Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $243,000 Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 492 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter worth $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 145.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $784,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053,616 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Mastercard by 13.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after acquiring an additional 387,317 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.3 %

MA opened at $521.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $479.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $395.55 and a twelve month high of $534.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $471.18.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $575.00 price target (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

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.