New Century Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

New Century Financial Group LLC cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,668 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 21.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $200,368,000 after purchasing an additional 79,418 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,241,297,000 after buying an additional 71,569 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $19,614,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $1,826,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 5.9% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $533.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $537.70. The company 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $524.27 and a 200-day moving average of $496.23.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm 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%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MA shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

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.