Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Buys 249 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,669 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after acquiring an additional 257,312 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after acquiring an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 453,773 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,308,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,115,228,000 after acquiring an additional 64,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MA opened at $564.68 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $540.22 and its 200 day moving average is $515.72. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $514.82 billion, a PE ratio of 40.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given 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 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.