Highland Capital Management LLC Purchases 6,001 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 132.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,537 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,001 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $4,238,764,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Mastercard by 38.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Mastercard by 3,493.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 934,110 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $524,914,000 after acquiring an additional 908,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,015,557,000 after buying an additional 907,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. This trade represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total transaction of $178,049.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,391 shares of company stock valued at $20,836,514 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $630.89.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $581.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $580.26 and a 200-day moving average of $561.85. The firm has a market cap of $525.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.50%.

Mastercard Company 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.