Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Boosts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,640 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bfsg LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 11,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,818,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Mastercard by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 189.6% during the fourth quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 2,082 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. raised its stake in Mastercard by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 5,441 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,321,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $2,250,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Mastercard stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $462.50. The company had a trading volume of 3,982,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,420,361. The company’s 50-day moving average is $471.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $435.26. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $357.85 and a twelve month high of $490.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $431.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.46 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.60% and a return on equity of 191.22%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 22.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total transaction of $3,736,447.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total value of $97,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 97,543,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,527,976,823. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 7,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.92, for a total transaction of $3,736,447.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 47,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,672,828.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 257,630 shares of company stock worth $118,303,470. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $432.00 to $499.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $504.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $545.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.23.

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.