Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Mastercard has received an average consensus recommendation of "Buy" from 29 analysts, with a target price of $634.04.
• The company's CFO recently sold 17,816 shares for over $10 million, marking a 36.32% decrease in their position.
• Mastercard declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.5%, to be paid on November 7th.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $634.0370.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research set a $655.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $639.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $645.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,816 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $586.89, for a total value of $10,456,032.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,330,922.26. The trade was a 36.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 73.2% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 19.5% during the first quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Fortis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida now owns 693 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,463 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $578.91 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The company has a market capitalization of $523.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.97. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $580.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $562.33.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.50%.

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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