Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Buys 189 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,325 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after purchasing an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $194,141,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after purchasing an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 price target (up previously from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.6 %

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

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Mastercard

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.