Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $549.16.

MA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Argus upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $520.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $473.55. The company has a market cap of $477.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 12-month low of $404.32 and a 12-month high of $534.03.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

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

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.