MSH Capital Advisors LLC Takes $302,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

MSH Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 574 shares of the credit services provider's stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,871 shares in the company, valued at $46,692,629.36. The trade was a 15.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Barclays upped their price target on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $607.96.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $513.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $539.77 and a 200-day moving average of $528.48. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $582.23. The stock has a market cap of $468.35 billion, a PE ratio of 36.98, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard 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.

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