Apollon Financial LLC Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 41.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 769 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Apollon Financial LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Mastercard by 51.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,782 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after acquiring an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 453,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $573,017,000 after purchasing an additional 409,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $603.08.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $562.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $516.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a PEG 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $531.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $504.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $428.86 and a fifty-two week high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.