Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Buys 242 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 74.0% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $508.49 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $425.48 and a 52-week high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $466.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $524.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $493.23.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

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.