Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,581 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 326 shares during the quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldstein Advisors LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in Mastercard by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,190 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 2,055 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $566.13.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $505.18. 2,015,535 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,394,476. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $425.48 and a 1-year high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $463.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.21, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $524.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $492.31.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.