Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes $206,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew 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 buying an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,611 shares during the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,932,000 after acquiring an additional 2,931 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 337,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer cut their price target 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. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $526.11 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $582.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $479.66 billion, a PE ratio of 37.88, 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 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $545.34 and its 200 day moving average is $522.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes 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 believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.