SlateStone Wealth LLC Has $8.66 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

SlateStone Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,232 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,487 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 3.4% in the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,753 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,109,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 4,289 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 577 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,046 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Compass Point raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.18.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $548.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $492.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $555.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $564.32. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.07%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.