Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 47.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,048 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,216 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 3.8% during the 4th 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 during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,651,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. now owns 475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 2,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DZ Bank raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.6 %

MA opened at $549.60 on Friday. 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 $582.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $544.85 and its 200 day moving average is $519.85. The stock has a market cap of $501.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

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 net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 leadership 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.