Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Buys 164 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,782 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position 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 valued at $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $573,017,000 after purchasing an additional 409,334 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Macquarie increased their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $545.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $500.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.25, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $547.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $524.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $497.91.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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 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 paid a $0.76 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.