Empowered Funds LLC Buys 8,259 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,259 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $19,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after purchasing an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Mastercard by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after acquiring an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after acquiring an additional 138,842 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MA. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target (up from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $603.08.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $562.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $516.33 billion, a PE ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $531.61 and a 200-day moving average of $505.09. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

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.