Motive Wealth Advisors Grows Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Motive Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 925 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after buying an additional 257,312 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after acquiring an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 453,773 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after purchasing an additional 304,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp upped their price target 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Macquarie upped their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $533.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $524.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $496.23. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $537.70. The firm has a market cap of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Company 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.