Petros Family Wealth LLC Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Petros Family Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 34,743 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $18,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,881 shares during the period. Hobbs Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Coign Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $694,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 663 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth about $1,559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MA shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $607.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,692,629.36. This represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares in the company, valued at $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE MA opened at $509.66 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 one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $582.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $542.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $528.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $464.66 billion, a PE ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 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, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management 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.