Smith Anglin Financial LLC Sells 158 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. State Street Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after purchasing an additional 257,312 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after purchasing an additional 453,773 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after purchasing an additional 304,293 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.4 %

MA opened at $515.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $473.55 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $425.48 and a fifty-two week high of $537.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $524.14 and its 200 day moving average is $493.23.

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

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $566.63.

Mastercard 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.