Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Reduces Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,637 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 242 shares during the quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Mastercard by 18.1% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 42,427 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $23,841,000 after acquiring an additional 6,511 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 537 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $249,000. Americana Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 15.4% during the second quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,563 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, 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 value of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE MA opened at $551.98 on Monday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $572.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $569.51. The stock has a market cap of $499.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MA. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Compass Point set a $620.00 price target on Mastercard and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $649.26.

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.