Riverwater Partners LLC Trims Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Riverwater Partners LLC cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,167 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,179,138 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,640,219,000 after acquiring an additional 377,302 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,657,792 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,800,202,000 after purchasing an additional 282,739 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,022,224,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,760,740 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,139,713,000 after purchasing an additional 817,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,714,073 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,061,998,000 after buying an additional 212,259 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Barclays increased their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DZ Bank raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $489.94 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $550.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $528.08. The firm has a market cap of $446.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $582.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.