Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $669.18 Average Target Price from Analysts

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and six have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $669.2727.

A number of brokerages recently commented on MA. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MA opened at $537.69 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $554.67 and its 200-day moving average is $563.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $482.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Mastercard by 25.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.