Leavell Investment Management Inc. Has $6.84 Million Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,986 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 262 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MA. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 372 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Harrington Investments INC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harrington Investments INC now owns 3,225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 205,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,523,000 after acquiring an additional 11,331 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 14.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $603.08.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $564.79 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $532.30 and its 200 day moving average is $507.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $518.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.