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

PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,187,820 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,370 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 5.9% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. PineStone Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.13% of Mastercard worth $625,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BXM Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $773,000. PUREfi Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $447,000. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 630 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 33,627 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 70,472 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,108,000 after acquiring an additional 7,452 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Susquehanna raised their price target on Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.3 %

MA stock opened at $564.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $534.76 and a 200-day moving average of $508.68. The company has a market capitalization of $518.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.