Legacy Trust Decreases Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Legacy Trust lowered its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,425 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Legacy Trust’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 386 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 33.0% during the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $673,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,525,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $567.29.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $549.25 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $551.55. 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 market cap of $504.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $525.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $499.45.

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

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 23.00%.

Mastercard Company 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.