Appleton Partners Inc. MA Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,776 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 28 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 808 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Bell Bank grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,908 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the second quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 88.7% in the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 8,503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,090,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CMH Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 0.4% during the first quarter. CMH Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,201 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,071,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Mastercard from $442.00 to $452.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. 888 reissued a “reiterates” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $463.00 to $488.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $442.83.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 10,838 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.38, for a total transaction of $4,274,290.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,166,426.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.38, for a total value of $4,274,290.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,166,426.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,533,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,596,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 407,267 shares of company stock worth $161,485,243 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $414.31 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $401.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $381.18. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $276.87 and a 12-month high of $418.60. The firm has a market cap of $390.37 billion, a PE ratio of 38.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.05. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.10% and a net margin of 43.37%. The company had revenue of $6.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 12.13 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.37%.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It facilitates the processing of payment transactions, including authorization, clearing, and settlement, as well as delivers other payment-related products and services.