Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lessened its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,063,584 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 44,472 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.12% of Mastercard worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after purchasing an additional 931,132 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,421,213,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,096,979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,015,557,000 after purchasing an additional 907,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after buying an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Mastercard by 38.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,413,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.4%

MA stock opened at $540.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $563.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $569.15. The stock has a market cap of $485.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,294. The trade was a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $713.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $652.50.

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.