Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $709.45

Key Points

• Analysts are broadly positive: Mastercard has a “Moderate Buy” consensus from 35 firms, with an average one-year price target of $709.45; Citigroup recently raised its target to $800.
• Recent results beat expectations: Mastercard reported quarterly EPS of $5.31 versus the $5.17 consensus and revenue of $9.81 billion, up 14% year over year.
• Commercial partnerships are expanding: Mastercard is partnering with Sage and Adyen on small-business accounts and debit cards, and has announced additional business banking and corporate-services partnerships.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, thirty have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $709.45.

Several research firms recently issued reports on MA. Argus raised their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $722.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Freedom Broker downgraded shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the company from $620.00 to $725.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 40,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% 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. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 50,398 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $27,793,000 after acquiring an additional 15,253 shares during the period. Petix & Botte Co boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Petix & Botte Co now owns 454 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 4,959 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 6.6% during the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 87,205 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $48,091,000 after purchasing an additional 5,432 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 14.8% during the third quarter. Focus Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,853 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $8,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its Mastercard price target from $675 to $800 and maintained a “buy” rating. The new target implies about 21.4% upside from the cited $658.91 price, signaling increased analyst optimism. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard will be the card-network partner for Sage’s planned small-business accounts and debit cards, initially being implemented in France with Adyen. The arrangement could broaden Mastercard’s reach among small businesses. Sage partnership article
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships include a BMO business credit card in Canada and a Citizens treasury-management service using Mastercard technology, expanding its commercial-card and corporate-services footprint. Business banking partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Investor activity has also been supportive: one report said Pershing Square added to Mastercard in the second quarter, while another reported a fund increased its stake by 1,884% in the third quarter. Pershing Square holdings article Fund holdings article
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Michael Miebach described cybersecurity as a major concern for protecting financial infrastructure. The comments highlight an ongoing industry risk, but no specific breach or new Mastercard-related impact was reported. Cybersecurity interview

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:MA opened at $658.91 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $595.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $540.39. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $681.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $574.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is 18.20%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.