Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Acquired by Simon Quick Advisors LLC

Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,473 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,984 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 955 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $503,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Exchange Bank boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Bank now owns 1,239 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,579 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $527.84 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $524.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $495.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $537.70. The company has a market capitalization of $484.47 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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