Sagace Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Sagace Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,065 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Sagace Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,425,665,000 after purchasing an additional 257,312 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 4.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $522.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $479.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $524.14 and its 200 day moving average is $493.23. 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 $425.48 and a 1-year high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.