Analysts Set Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Target Price at $549.16

Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-one have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $549.16.

A number of equities analysts have commented on MA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. William Blair raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. The trade was a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 99,370 shares of company stock worth $46,797,168. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 46.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,785 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,120,000 after buying an additional 4,685 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 20.1% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 88.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 446,348 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $214,919,000 after purchasing an additional 209,943 shares during the period. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $662,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 8,723 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,201,000 after buying an additional 2,270 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $521.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $478.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a one year low of $398.26 and a one year high of $534.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $471.95. 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 (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.