E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 41.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 261 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 77 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MA. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its holdings in Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after purchasing an additional 337,905 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in Mastercard by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 2.0% during the third 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 buying an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $533.50 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.66 billion, a PE ratio of 40.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month high of $537.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $524.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $497.46.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given 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 23.00%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.