Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 535 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 23 shares during the period. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after buying an additional 62,891 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after buying an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $603.08.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1 %

Mastercard stock opened at $567.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $530.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $503.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $520.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.83, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 16.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

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

Mastercard 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.