Valued Retirements Inc. Acquires Shares of 525 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Valued Retirements Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 525 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 12.4% in the second quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 2,602 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4,073.0% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,088 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,014 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.9% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 115,475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $50,943,000 after acquiring an additional 3,225 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 87,810 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,910,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.28.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MA stock opened at $522.82 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $411.60 and a fifty-two week high of $535.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $479.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $514.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.31.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.97%.

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.