Gemmer Asset Management LLC Has $399,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Gemmer Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after acquiring an additional 257,312 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MA stock opened at $525.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $524.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.92. The stock has a market cap of $482.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $427.45 and a 1 year high of $537.70.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication 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.