Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. Sells 177 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 177 shares during the quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 8.4% during the second quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 6,829 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,013,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 979 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,723 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 10,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,834,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,916 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,571,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Compass Point started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.28.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock traded up $0.84 on Friday, hitting $533.25. 368,002 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,448,652. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $516.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $489.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $411.60 and a 12-month high of $536.75.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

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.