First Horizon Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,140 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 120,121 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $59,316,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 3.3% during the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 16,945 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,367,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% in the third quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 110,696 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $54,662,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the third quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 8,591 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,242,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MWA Asset Management raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 1,980 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $512.54 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $505.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $472.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $470.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.77, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $404.32 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.