Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,547 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,395 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after purchasing an additional 62,891 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after buying an additional 2,931 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 100,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $526.11 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $545.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $522.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $582.23. The company has a market cap of $479.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted 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%. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.89%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.11.

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.