Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Raises Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC grew its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Macquarie upped their price objective on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA traded up $1.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $524.97. The company had a trading volume of 582,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,475,959. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $427.45 and a fifty-two week high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $524.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $493.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $481.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.