Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $540.00 to $544.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 7.48% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MA. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $540.17.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock traded down $1.93 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $506.15. The stock had a trading volume of 973,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,443,268. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $495.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $466.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $467.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $384.20 and a 52-week high of $527.90.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total value of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,370 shares of company stock worth $153,495,958 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 74.0% during the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.