Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $562.76 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $562.76.

MA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $564.00 to $654.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 51.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,846,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,782 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after acquiring an additional 700,769 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,043,972,000 after purchasing an additional 453,773 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $573,017,000 after purchasing an additional 409,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $511.89 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $523.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $491.10. Mastercard has a one year low of $416.53 and a one year high of $537.70. The firm has a market cap of $469.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.