KLCM Advisors Inc. Has $935,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

KLCM Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,776 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning raised its position in Mastercard by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 205,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,523,000 after buying an additional 11,331 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Mastercard by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $925,662,000 after buying an additional 241,297 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,751 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 124,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,530,000 after purchasing an additional 4,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $401,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MA. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $564.77 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $535.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $509.98. The company has a market capitalization of $518.36 billion, a PE ratio of 40.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. 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 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $576.94.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given 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 payout ratio is 21.89%.

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

Mastercard Company 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.