17 Capital Partners LLC Acquires 35 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

17 Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,767 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 89,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $47,332,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,011 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,639,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 37,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $19,730,000 after buying an additional 8,259 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $635.00 target price (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $603.08.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $562.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $576.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $531.61 and a 200 day moving average of $505.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

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.