Macquarie Cuts Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Price Target to $610.00

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by Macquarie from $645.00 to $610.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the credit services provider's stock. Macquarie's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 9.39% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MA. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $606.89.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded up $11.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $557.65. The company had a trading volume of 646,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,612,067. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $582.23. The company has a market cap of $508.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $532.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $531.01.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. The business had revenue of $7.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.31 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. The trade was a 17.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,775 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.16, for a total transaction of $8,678,774.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,692,629.36. This trade represents a 15.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,497,160,000 after acquiring an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,800,836,000 after purchasing an additional 304,293 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Mastercard by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,238 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,514 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $6,589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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