Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases 831 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,182 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $30,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 14.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $925,662,000 after purchasing an additional 241,297 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,216,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the third quarter valued at $634,000. Finally, Wealth Architects LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.6% in the third quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 target price (up from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $549.60 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $582.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $544.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $519.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $501.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued 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 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.