LVW Advisors LLC Has $3.65 Million Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

LVW Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,925 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 80,661 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Mastercard by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 142,002 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $62,646,000 after purchasing an additional 5,158 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 39,540 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $17,444,000 after purchasing an additional 5,160 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 666 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 185,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $81,845,000 after buying an additional 4,814 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $575.00 price objective (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.4 %

Mastercard stock opened at $525.22 on Monday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $427.45 and a 12 month high of $537.70. The stock has a market cap of $482.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $524.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $494.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.