Raleigh Capital Management Inc. Purchases 51 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 614 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $200,368,000 after buying an additional 79,418 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,241,297,000 after buying an additional 71,569 shares during the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $19,614,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth $1,826,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $533.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $537.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $524.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $496.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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.