Apeiron RIA LLC Purchases 48 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Apeiron RIA LLC increased its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 555 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,190 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% during the third quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 2,055 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,082,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $533.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $489.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $524.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $496.49. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four 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, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

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.