Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MAGet Free Report) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, twenty have assigned a buy recommendation and six have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $656.0385.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Get Our Latest Report on Mastercard

Mastercard Trading Up 0.2%

MA opened at $490.73 on Friday. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $498.76 and a 200-day moving average of $521.76. The stock has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MAGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Carmignac Gestion grew its position in Mastercard by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 380,470 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $190,065,000 after purchasing an additional 80,875 shares during the period. Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at $1,799,000. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Farmers National Bank increased its stake in Mastercard by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 9,246 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.4% in the first quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 847 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Mastercard

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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.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Mastercard (NYSE:MA)

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