Chicago Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Chicago Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,369 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 236 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.7% of Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $65,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after acquiring an additional 257,312 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after purchasing an additional 304,293 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $565.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Mastercard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $595.64.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $555.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 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 $576.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $528.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $501.43. The company has a market cap of $509.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.00, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 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 research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 16.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually 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.