Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp

Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 231.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,325 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the quarter. Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,391 shares of company stock valued at $20,836,514. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $574.40 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $519.26 billion, a PE ratio of 38.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $579.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $561.01.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.50%.

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.