Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Purchased by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA – Get Rating) by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,961 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coston McIsaac & Partners acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Schubert & Co increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 91.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 94 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Urban Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 163.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 137 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 74.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.5 %

MA traded down $1.79 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $378.22. 588,738 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,098,940. The stock has a market cap of $363.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $276.87 and a fifty-two week high of $399.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $354.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $335.42.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 148.94% and a net margin of 45.22%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 10.56 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 6th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $445.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Monday, October 10th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Mastercard from $395.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $428.00 to $427.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Mastercard from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Mastercard from $400.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $406.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.05, for a total transaction of $2,406,856.65. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,314 shares in the company, valued at $15,701,385.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Mastercard news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.05, for a total transaction of $2,406,856.65. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,314 shares in the company, valued at $15,701,385.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 7,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.00, for a total value of $2,260,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,207 shares in the company, valued at $3,586,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 367,819 shares of company stock worth $117,733,271 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

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Mastercard, Inc operates as a technology company. The firm engages in the payments industry that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and business. It offers payment solutions for the development and implementation of credit, debit, prepaid, commercial and payment programs.