3,000 Shares in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Acquired by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,580,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 4.5% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 80,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473 shares during the last quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 127,250 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $56,138,000 after purchasing an additional 4,750 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Mastercard by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 142,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $62,646,000 after buying an additional 5,158 shares during the period. Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. lifted its position in Mastercard by 6.9% in the second quarter. Investidor Profissional Gestao de Recursos Ltda. now owns 24,146 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after buying an additional 1,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 11.6% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 14,949 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,595,000 after buying an additional 1,549 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE MA opened at $525.22 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $427.45 and a 12 month high of $537.70. The company has a market capitalization of $482.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $524.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $494.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MA. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

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.