Steven Owsley’s Madison Street Partners is Bullish and Shows a Lot of Exposure to These Stocks

Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) came in as the third largest holding in Madison Street Partners’ equity portfolio at the end of December. The investor upped its position by 38% over the quarter to 55,400 shares, valued at $4.77 million. Holding shares of the company since the second quarter of 2010, Mr. Owsley’s fund has witnessed the stock gain over 270%. Overall, while the fund has been either decreasing or increasing its stake in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) over different quarters, the position is still higher compared to some 25,800 shares that have been reported initially. Mastercard is one of the favorite stocks in the credit services industry, together with Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which is the fourth-largest stake in Madison Street Partners’ equity portfolio (17,000 shares, up by 17% on the quarter). In a recent program last month, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that Visa and Mastercard are his favorite picks among credit services stocks as the world was heading into the holidays, which usually involve a lot of spending. Also in December, Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA)’s Board of Directors raised the company’s quarterly cash dividend by 45% to $0.16 per share. Berkshire Hathaway is also a shareholder of Mastercard, with 4.72 million shares as of the end of September.

Overall, all three top picks in Madison Street Partners’ equity portfolio amass almost 40% of the total portfolio value. Surprisingly or not, Mr. Owsley seems to be a fan of Warren Buffett, since aside from holding shares of Berkshire Hathaway, his fund also shares some of the similar positions with the great investor.

Disclosure: none