Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $37.84 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,862 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $37,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 14.8% during 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 period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 511 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 422.7% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 230 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 177,896 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $91,390,000 after purchasing an additional 16,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. 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 lifted 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. DZ Bank raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $584.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $574.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $523.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $543.74 and its 200-day moving average is $518.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $428.86 and a 52-week high of $582.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.