Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $645.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $638.96.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE MA opened at $573.72 on Thursday. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $579.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $566.01. The company has a market capitalization of $518.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.The business had revenue of $8.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.50 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total transaction of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,330,922.26. This trade represents a 36.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 19.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,007 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,613 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,092 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,561,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in Mastercard by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 641 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.