Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Trading Up 0% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) shot up 0% during mid-day trading on Friday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $533.00 to $567.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Mastercard traded as high as $523.39 and last traded at $520.42. 618,952 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 2,444,075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $520.40.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MA. Citigroup upped their target price on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,190 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oldfather Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 827 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $479.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $504.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $471.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.