Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Has $190,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 361 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Mastercard by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,846,187,000 after buying an additional 1,965,782 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $573,017,000 after buying an additional 409,334 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $566.13.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $504.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,348,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,301,348. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $524.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $492.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $462.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $425.48 and a 52-week high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. 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 yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

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.