Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. Sells 39 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,767 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,385,383,000 after buying an additional 62,891 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after acquiring an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after purchasing an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after purchasing an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Macquarie upped their price objective on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $562.76.

Mastercard Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Mastercard stock traded down $10.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $505.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,799,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,701. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $425.48 and a 12 month high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $524.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $491.44. The stock has a market cap of $463.98 billion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.00%.

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.