Sierra Ocean LLC Makes New $311,000 Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 591 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the third 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 last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 51.7% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,187,000 after buying an additional 1,965,782 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 52.8% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $573,017,000 after buying an additional 409,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MA. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3 %

MA opened at $564.77 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $518.36 billion, a PE ratio of 40.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $535.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $509.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are usually a sign that the company’s board 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.