Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Sells 72 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,491 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,631,000 after buying an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,670 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,315 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 3,127 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $549.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $504.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. 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 Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $551.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $525.85 and a 200-day moving average of $499.45.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 an increase 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend 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.