Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Trading Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) shares shot up 0% on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $590.00 to $610.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Mastercard traded as high as $523.39 and last traded at $520.42. 618,952 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 2,444,075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $520.40.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas downgraded Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $547.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after acquiring an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,160,000 after acquiring an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 48.6% in the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $17,854,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.0 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $503.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $470.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market capitalization of $477.66 billion, a PE ratio of 39.37, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

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.