Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock Price Target Raised at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its Mastercard price target to $800 from $675 and maintained a Buy rating, implying 21.12% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Mastercard’s latest quarter beat expectations: earnings were $5.31 per share versus a $5.17 estimate, while revenue of $9.81 billion rose 14% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $709.45, while the shares traded at $660.51 in Tuesday’s session.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Citigroup from $675.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the credit services provider's stock. Citigroup's target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.12% from the stock's current price.

MA has been the subject of several other reports. Freedom Broker lowered Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Mastercard to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $667.00 to $726.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, President Capital upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $709.45.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MA stock traded up $4.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $660.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,096,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,508,146. The company has a 50 day moving average of $594.35 and a 200 day moving average of $539.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $578.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 20.00 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.00, for a total value of $2,767,197.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at $22,915,750. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total transaction of $1,907,344.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 36,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,403,600. This represents a 8.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $18,984,867,000 after acquiring an additional 486,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 10.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,559,779,000 after purchasing an additional 480,725 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,386,119 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $2,418,813,000 after purchasing an additional 28,834 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,111,216,000 after purchasing an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,831,763,000 after purchasing an additional 554,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sage is developing small-business financial accounts with debit-card, payment and reconciliation features built into its software. Adyen will provide infrastructure for the initial rollout in France, while Mastercard will power the debit cards—an opportunity to extend its network into Sage’s small-business customer base. Sage partners with Adyen and Mastercard
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is adding business-banking partnerships: BMO launched a Canadian business credit card with Mastercard, and Citizens Treasury Intelligence went live with Trovata using Mastercard technology. These deals could support reach in commercial cards and corporate treasury services. Mastercard expands its business banking reach
• Neutral Sentiment: A fund with $4.5 billion in U.S. equities increased its Mastercard position by 1,884% in the third quarter. This may signal institutional interest, though the reported activity is backward-looking and does not establish a near-term trading catalyst. Fund increases Mastercard stake

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.

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