Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Sold by Wrapmanager Inc.

Wrapmanager Inc. cut its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,195 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. Wrapmanager Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 771 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. CWS Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,669 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 493 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prasad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $301,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. DZ Bank raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $558.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $509.13 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $539.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $514.96. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 21.89%.

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.