Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Grows Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,241,297,000 after acquiring an additional 71,569 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after acquiring an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,327,168 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,908,973,000 after acquiring an additional 113,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,250,760 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,875,266,000 after purchasing an additional 38,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on MA shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Macquarie increased their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1 %

MA opened at $526.60 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $404.32 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03. 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 has a market cap of $483.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $507.49 and its 200 day moving average is $474.33.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.