Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 73.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,864 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 31.1% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 37,590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $16,583,000 after acquiring an additional 8,911 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,875,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.3% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 63,616 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $28,065,000 after buying an additional 3,218 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.4% during the second quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.7% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,327,168 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,908,973,000 after acquiring an additional 113,238 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $525.22 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $427.45 and a one year high of $537.70. The company has a market cap of $482.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.73, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. 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 fifty day moving average of $524.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $493.64.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

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.