Harbour Investments Inc. Sells 108 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Harbour Investments Inc. cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,459 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $925,662,000 after acquiring an additional 241,297 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 9.5% during the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 6,720 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,319,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth about $67,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 price target (up previously from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.5 %

MA stock opened at $527.87 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $481.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month high of $582.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $545.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $523.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.