Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 3,491 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 40.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,027 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,491 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Mastercard by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 21,625 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $12,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Mastercard by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 27,478 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $15,441,000 after purchasing an additional 3,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its position in Mastercard by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 6,983 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,924,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.5%

MA stock opened at $501.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $446.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $515.79 and a 200-day moving average of $543.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $664.40.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.