Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. Has $20.78 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 39,462 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 1.2% of Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $20,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MA. Exchange Bank increased its holdings in Mastercard by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Bank now owns 1,239 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,579 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,097,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Transform Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 15,694 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,264,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 20,185 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,629,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $527.84 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $524.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $495.46. The company has a market capitalization of $484.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Mastercard declared that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 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.