Ashburton Jersey Ltd Makes New Investment in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 211 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $111,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 493 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. now owns 475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 2,245 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $635.00 price objective (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays upped their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $489.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $550.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $528.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $582.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $446.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total value of $8,678,774.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total transaction of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.