Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MAFree Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,569 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $268,000. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,503 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 5,830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,249 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,290,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Hixon Zuercher LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 13,137 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,918,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $567.29.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MA

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $564.81 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.72, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $526.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $499.80.

Mastercard (NYSE:MAGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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

About Mastercard

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Mastercard (NYSE:MA)

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