Geneva Partners LLC Acquires 1,769 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Geneva Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up about 2.8% of Geneva Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Geneva Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 6,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Adero Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. now owns 475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $282,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MA. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target (up from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $603.08.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.2 %

Mastercard stock opened at $566.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $530.33 and its 200-day moving average is $503.85. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $576.94. The company has a market cap of $519.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.75, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 16.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.89%.

Mastercard 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.