Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Purchased by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 26,740.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,736 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,696 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 65 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This trade represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total transaction of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MA. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie boosted 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, March 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE MA opened at $540.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $492.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month high of $582.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $550.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $526.65.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted 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, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

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.