The Mastercard board of directors recently approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the company to repurchase up to $12 billion of its Class A common stock. The new share repurchase program will become effective at the completion of the company’s previous $11 billion program. As of December 13, the company had approximately $3.9 billion remaining under the current approved share repurchase program.
Following the announcement, Mastercard’s shares saw a slight increase of around 0.5 percent, trading at $533.8 in after-hours trading. As of 10:07 GMT, the company’s shares rose 0.13 percent to $531.01.
Cash dividend grows 15 percent
The company also announced that the board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 76 cents per share, a 15 percent increase over the previous dividend. The cash dividend will be paid on February 7, 2025, to holders of record of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock as of January 9, 2025.
In September, Mastercard announced a quarterly cash dividend of 66 cents per share that was due on November 8 to holders of record of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock as of October 9, 2024.
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Net income hits $3.3 billion
Mastercard last released its quarterly earnings results on October 31. During the third quarter of 2024, Microsoft’s net income reached $3.3 billion and its diluted earnings per share hit $3.53. The company also revealed that its third-quarter adjusted net income reached $3.6 billion, and the adjusted diluted EPS reached $3.89
Meanwhile, net revenue increased 13 percent to $7.4 billion, or 14 percent on a currency-neutral basis. The company attributed this increase to growth in its payment network and value-added services and solutions.
“We continue to invest in our suite of differentiated services to grow our addressable market, protect the ecosystem and add value in every transaction. This includes the planned acquisitions of Recorded Future and Minna Technologies, which are expected to add leading AI-powered threat intelligence and subscription management capabilities to meet the needs of our customers,” stated Michael Miebach, Mastercard CEO.
The company added that total operating expenses increased 25 percent in Q3 to $3.4 billion, or 12 percent excluding the impact of third-quarter special items. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to higher general and administrative expenses, including a restructuring charge in the third quarter of 2024, and litigation provisions.
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