Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 680 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,454 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 680 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 1.3% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $28,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.9% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,286 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,655,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 12.2% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 3,451 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,522,000 after buying an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Tremblant Capital Group boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 46.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tremblant Capital Group now owns 4,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 7,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,219,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie increased their price objective on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $527.84 on Wednesday. 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 Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $537.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $524.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $495.46. The firm has a market cap of $484.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

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

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.