Lincoln Capital Corp Buys Shares of 3,833 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Lincoln Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,833 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $533.77 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $524.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $496.23. The firm has a market cap of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $537.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 dividend of $0.76 per share. 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 yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

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.