BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $200,000 in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 380 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 6,376 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,357,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 871,674 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $458,997,000 after buying an additional 39,732 shares during the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Willner & Heller LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 862 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Capital Management LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $525.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $482.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $524.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $494.59. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $427.45 and a 1 year high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

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

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

Mastercard Company 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.