Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 33 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its holdings in 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 worth $1,385,383,000 after buying 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 worth $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after purchasing an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $603.08.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE MA opened at $562.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $531.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $505.09. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94. The company has a market capitalization of $516.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.89%.

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