Montecito Bank & Trust Buys 286 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Montecito Bank & Trust increased its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,764 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after buying an additional 257,312 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $9,043,972,000 after acquiring an additional 453,773 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after purchasing an additional 304,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp upped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $533.77 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month 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 $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $524.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $496.23.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Company 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.