May Hill Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 967 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $548.66 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $582.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $551.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $527.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $500.22 billion, a PE ratio of 39.50, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. Analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

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