Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Acquired by Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,194 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its position 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 during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake 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 valued at $1,325,353,000 after purchasing an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in Mastercard by 4.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $567.29.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $533.50 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $524.77 and its 200-day moving average is $497.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $489.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.