Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $207,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 106.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 395 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 167,963 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $82,940,000 after purchasing an additional 11,513 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 27.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,513 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,191,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 261.1% during the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 5,532 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,129,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 22,045 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,886,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $595.64.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $555.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $509.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $528.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $501.43. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $576.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 16.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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 dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

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.