MasterCard (MA) Doubles Dividend, But Yield Still Lags Peers (V) (COF)

MasterCard (NYSE: MA) is ticking higher on plans to enhance shareholder value even more.

Early Tuesday morning, the financial giant said it would pay a quarterly dividend of 60 percent share on May 9, 2013, to shareholders of record as of April 9, 2013. The amount is double its prior rate of 30 cent per share. Amid the increased rate, annual yield is now at about 0.5 percent.

MasterCard also announced a new, $2 billion common buyback plan. The plan will start when its old $1.5 billion authorization runs out. There's currently about $440 million left on the prior approval. With 124.3 million shares outstanding, the buyback will trim about 3 percent of the total.

The move puts MasterCard's payout ratio at 9.4 percent, based on FY13 net income estimates. That compares with 18.2 percent for Visa (NYSE: V), 51 percent at Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS),and 12.3 percent at Capital One (NYSE: COF).

Shares of MasterCard are up 4.7 percent in 2013, versus 3.3 percent for Visa, a drop of 2.7 percent for Capital One, and a flat performance out of Discover.

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