Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Has $522,000 Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lessened its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 991 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Mastercard by 51.7% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 1,965,782 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $837,017,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 79,739.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,555,277 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $818,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553,329 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 3.4% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Mastercard by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,899,438 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,532,541,000 after purchasing an additional 565,717 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie upped their price objective on Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target (up from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $527.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $545.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $522.44. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $582.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $481.27 billion, a PE ratio of 38.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. Analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.89%.

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.