ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC Has $628,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,286 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV raised its stake in Mastercard by 12.2% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 3,451 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,522,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Tremblant Capital Group raised its stake in Mastercard by 46.7% during the second quarter. Tremblant Capital Group now owns 4,028 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,777,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 3.8% in the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 7,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,219,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $575.00 target price (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $566.63.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $527.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $484.47 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $524.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $496.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $428.86 and a 52 week high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.00%.

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

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.