Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Sells 489 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors reduced its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 16.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,467 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 489 shares during the quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its position in Mastercard by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $925,662,000 after buying an additional 241,297 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 1,717 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at $634,000. Finally, Wealth Architects LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Mastercard from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $549.60 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $428.86 and a 1-year high of $582.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $501.07 billion, a PE ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $544.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.85.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.