South Street Advisors LLC Sells 1,734 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

South Street Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,994 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,734 shares during the period. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Goldstein Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the third quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Oldfather Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% during the third quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 827 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the third quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 455 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Pan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the third quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total transaction of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $521.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,408,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,452,135. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $395.55 and a 1 year high of $534.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $504.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $471.04.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.16.

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.