Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. cut its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 626,336 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,651 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.07% of Mastercard worth $309,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $259,071,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,043,557 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $460,376,000 after purchasing an additional 363,133 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. William Blair upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $515.10 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $404.32 and a 52 week high of $534.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $506.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.05. The company has a market cap of $472.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.31 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 (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly 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 during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders 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 was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend 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.