Savvy Advisors Inc. Has $3.12 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 176.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,922 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,781 shares during the quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,990 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,464,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 2,276 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 18.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,105 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,035 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,493,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $607.96.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:MA opened at $509.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $582.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $464.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.69, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $542.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $528.27.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.