Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Bought by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,583 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 1.5% of Trust Co. of Vermont's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Trust Co. of Vermont's holdings in Mastercard were worth $31,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after buying an additional 337,905 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $410,813,000 after acquiring an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,474,151,000 after acquiring an additional 100,550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $566.63.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.4 %

MA traded up $2.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $525.22. 2,373,992 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,205,146. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $427.45 and a fifty-two week high of $537.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $482.06 billion, a PE ratio of 39.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. The company's fifty day moving average price is $524.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $494.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.46 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors 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 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 0.58%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Mastercard 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.