Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 454 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 145.6% in 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 period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $259,071,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 13.3% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Macquarie lifted their price target on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $540.17.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded up $15.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $521.28. 238,110 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,437,107. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $384.30 and a 1-year high of $527.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $497.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $467.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $481.58 billion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total value of $42,192,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 327,370 shares of company stock valued at $153,495,958. Corporate 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.