Vest Financial LLC Has $35.13 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,712 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,800 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $35,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,425,665,000 after buying an additional 257,312 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after acquiring an additional 8,035,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 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 have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 target price (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $603.08.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.8 %

MA stock opened at $562.55 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $576.94. The stock has a market cap of $516.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is $531.02 and its 200 day moving average is $504.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign 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.