Mastercard’s (MA) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $572.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock.

MA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $565.00 price target (up from $536.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Macquarie increased their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $520.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,334,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,447,006. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $503.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $470.59. Mastercard has a fifty-two week low of $395.55 and a fifty-two week high of $534.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $477.57 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock worth $97,749,218 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,584,606 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $36,399,279,000 after purchasing an additional 330,872 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,651,904 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,574,347,000 after buying an additional 43,881 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,971,020,000 after purchasing an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,308,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,115,228,000 after buying an additional 64,456 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mastercard

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.