Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Acquired by Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,434 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 21.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 454,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $200,368,000 after purchasing an additional 79,418 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,082,729 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,241,297,000 after buying an additional 71,569 shares in the last quarter. Dundas Partners LLP purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $19,614,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $1,826,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.9% in the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays increased their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $533.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $524.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $496.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.39 earnings per share. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

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