Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $572.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

MA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Argus upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $521.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $504.09 and a 200-day moving average of $471.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $395.55 and a twelve month high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,370 shares of company stock worth $46,797,168 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 74.0% in the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.