Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Sold by HUB Investment Partners LLC

HUB Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 252 shares during the quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $14,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 32,346 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,032,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 44,249 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $23,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares in the last quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 696 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 260,577 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $137,212,000 after purchasing an additional 33,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1 %

MA opened at $535.93 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $546.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $523.92. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $582.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $488.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

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.