New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 800 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,310 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises approximately 0.7% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $20,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MA. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 205,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,523,000 after buying an additional 11,331 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 14.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $925,662,000 after purchasing an additional 241,297 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,351 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 24,428 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $12,063,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the third quarter worth about $233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $564.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $518.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66, 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 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $534.76 and a 200 day moving average of $508.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

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.