May Hill Capital LLC Makes New $509,000 Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 967 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,497,160,000 after buying an additional 138,842 shares during the period. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter valued at approximately $893,000. Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 82.0% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 1,294 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1,664.2% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 100,736 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $49,761,000 after purchasing an additional 95,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. The trade was a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $548.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $500.22 billion, a PE ratio of 39.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $582.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $551.05 and a 200 day moving average of $527.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current 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 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. 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.