ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. Buys New Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 403 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Mastercard by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $925,662,000 after purchasing an additional 241,297 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 24.4% during the third quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 830 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 38.9% in the third quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,080 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,521,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,260 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,792,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.9% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,080,500 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $532,886,000 after buying an additional 30,587 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price target (up previously from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $618.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $635.00 price objective (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $606.11.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:MA opened at $564.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94. The company has a market cap of $514.82 billion, a PE ratio of 40.65, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $540.22 and a 200-day moving average of $515.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (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 research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.54%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management 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.