Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC Takes $244,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 573 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bollard Group LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $481.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $464.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $449.25 billion, a PE ratio of 40.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $355.82 and a 12-month high of $490.00.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.10. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.60% and a return on equity of 191.22%. The company had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.35 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $11.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 22.32%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Ajay Bhalla sold 98 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $439.52, for a total transaction of $43,072.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,740,407.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, insider Ajay Bhalla sold 98 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $439.52, for a total transaction of $43,072.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,740,407.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total transaction of $97,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 97,543,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,527,976,823. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,628 shares of company stock worth $23,309,067 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $490.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $425.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $530.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $479.62.

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.