Northcape Wealth Management LLC Sells 50 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,478 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 70,055 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,209 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 28,959 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,300,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This trade 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 this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MA stock opened at $521.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $395.55 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $471.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Compass Point assumed coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price for the company. Four 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.16.

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.