Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Sells 78 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,128 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 145.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $259,071,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Mastercard by 13.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,293,617 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,586,107,000 after purchasing an additional 387,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 53.4% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,043,557 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $460,376,000 after acquiring an additional 363,133 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $525.68.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MA traded down $2.17 on Tuesday, hitting $512.84. The company had a trading volume of 557,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,432,542. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $488.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $464.33. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $359.77 and a 1 year high of $518.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $476.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total transaction of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.