AIA Group Ltd Trims Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

AIA Group Ltd cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 26,741 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,107 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $14,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in Mastercard by 4.6% in the first quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 2,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 34.3% during the first quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,507 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,855,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.0% in the first quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 28,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $15,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Staley Capital Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 5,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,257,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $574.42 on Monday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $453.46 and a 1 year high of $594.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $519.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $563.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $553.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 12,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,453 shares of company stock worth $20,178,667 in the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Mastercard

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.