Ibex Wealth Advisors Lowers Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Ibex Wealth Advisors lessened its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 34.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,109 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 7,442 shares during the quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Mastercard by 820.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MA shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.1%

MA opened at $501.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $442.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $499.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $522.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.