Conway Capital Management Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Conway Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,997 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 4.7% of Conway Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Conway Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $10,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $200,368,000 after buying an additional 79,418 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,241,297,000 after purchasing an additional 71,569 shares during the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP purchased a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $19,614,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,826,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MA opened at $533.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $489.91 billion, a PE ratio of 40.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $537.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $524.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $496.23.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.