3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,899 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,279,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 145.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,253,734 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,096,470,000 after purchasing an additional 742,076 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,041,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,974,478,000 after purchasing an additional 676,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,608,023 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,803,956,000 after buying an additional 605,909 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas lowered Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.70.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $493.80 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $359.77 and a twelve month high of $501.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $471.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $461.86. The company has a market capitalization of $459.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.25, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.99%.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,423,320. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,033,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,113,923,465.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.