CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 70 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 70 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in Mastercard by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares during the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after purchasing an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after buying an additional 138,842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MA stock opened at $544.74 on Wednesday. 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 one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $582.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $549.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $525.90. The company has a market capitalization of $496.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. 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 0.56%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio 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.