E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 41.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 261 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after acquiring an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,846,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,782 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 52.8% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $573,017,000 after buying an additional 409,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $533.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $524.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $497.46. 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 stock has a market cap of $489.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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.