Rodgers & Associates LTD Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Rodgers & Associates LTD purchased a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $334,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 635 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. now owns 67,933 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,771,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,802 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,741,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motive Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Mastercard by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 925 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $535.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $491.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.37, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $524.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $496.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $537.70. 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 (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.