West Bancorporation Inc. Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

West Bancorporation Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 26.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 652 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 135 shares during the quarter. West Bancorporation Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $213,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,080,000. Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Mastercard by 7.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 167,963 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $82,940,000 after buying an additional 11,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,682,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $555.63 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $509.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $576.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $527.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $500.25.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price target (up previously from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn cut Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $595.64.

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.