Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $57,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the third quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie raised their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $562.76.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA traded down $10.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $505.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,799,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,701. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $425.48 and a 12-month high of $537.70. The stock has a market cap of $463.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $524.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $491.44.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.