Hickory Point Bank & Trust Buys New Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 609 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $714,000. PCG Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,000. Mitchell Capital Management Co. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. now owns 16,494 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,685,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $667,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several research reports. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $576.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $525.22 billion, a PE ratio of 41.47, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $542.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $517.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders 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 0.53%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.