Welch Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Welch Group LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,526 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 51.7% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,782 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,043,972,000 after acquiring an additional 453,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $573,017,000 after purchasing an additional 409,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $635.00 price objective (up previously from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $599.42.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of MA stock opened at $564.48 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $528.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $576.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 16.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.