Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $559.28 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $559.28.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $575.00 target price (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the 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 approximately $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after buying an additional 257,312 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 120,665.3% during the third 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 buying an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after buying an additional 304,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.6 %

Mastercard stock opened at $529.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $411.60 and a 1-year high of $536.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $516.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.61. The company has a market cap of $485.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 earnings per share. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. 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.