Verum Partners LLC Buys 25 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Verum Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 955 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,154,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.9% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,286 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV raised its stake in Mastercard by 12.2% in the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 3,451 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Tremblant Capital Group lifted its position in Mastercard by 46.7% during the second quarter. Tremblant Capital Group now owns 4,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 7,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,219,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MA. Barclays lifted their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer cut their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $527.84 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $524.19 and a 200 day moving average of $495.46. The firm has a market cap of $484.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.