Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Acquired by Echo45 Advisors LLC

Echo45 Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Echo45 Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. True North Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 1,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Independent Wealth Network Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 624 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 294,978 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $155,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 332,955 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $175,324,000 after purchasing an additional 3,706 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $575.00 target price (up from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $527.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $483.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $524.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $496.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows 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.

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.