Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,601 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 3.4% of Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $41,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Mastercard by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,688 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 37,608.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 337,487 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $148,886,000 after purchasing an additional 336,592 shares during the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 11,897 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,249,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Excalibur Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.7% during the second quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 3,056 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.6 %

MA opened at $516.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $524.14 and a 200 day moving average of $493.23. 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 12 month low of $425.48 and a 12 month high of $537.70. The firm has a market cap of $474.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm 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 company posted $3.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

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.