Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases 10,815 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2,861.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,815 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. VitalStone Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 60 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter worth $27,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MA. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $531.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Five 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.70.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE MA opened at $493.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $458.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $359.77 and a 52 week high of $501.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $470.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $461.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion for 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, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.99%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,423,320. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703. 0.10% of the stock is currently 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.