Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Buys 97 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,919 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mendel Money Management grew its position in Mastercard by 1.8% in the second quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 2,133 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 68.2% in the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares during the last quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 7.5% in the third quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 20,760 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $1,196,000. Finally, Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $315,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $476.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $479.62.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, insider Ajay Bhalla sold 98 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $439.52, for a total transaction of $43,072.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,740,407.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Ajay Bhalla sold 98 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $439.52, for a total transaction of $43,072.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,740,407.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 13,542 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.06, for a total transaction of $6,230,132.52. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at $21,388,649.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,628 shares of company stock valued at $23,309,067. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $477.95. 2,249,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,446,885. The stock has a market cap of $445.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $463.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.09. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $352.80 and a 12 month high of $490.00.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.46 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.60% and a return on equity of 191.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.32%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $11.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.