Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Price Target Raised to $564.00

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $544.00 to $564.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie upped their price target on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas lowered Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.3 %

Mastercard stock opened at $521.89 on Thursday. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $395.55 and a twelve month high of $534.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $504.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $471.18. The firm has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total value of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. The trade was a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after buying an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $17,854,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.