Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Increases Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 74.0% during the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the third quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4 %

MA opened at $525.22 on Friday. 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 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 fifty-two week low of $427.45 and a fifty-two week high of $537.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $524.28 and its 200 day moving average is $494.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its 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 return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a positive change 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 is currently 19.97%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.