Royal Bank Of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Mastercard (NYSE:MA)

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has raised its price target for Mastercard from $650.00 to $656.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.72% from the stock's previous close.
• Mastercard's stock is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with a consensus average target price of $615.33.
• In its latest earnings report, Mastercard exceeded expectations with earnings of $4.15 per share and reported a 16.8% increase in year-over-year revenue.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $656.00 target price on the credit services provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $650.00. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.37% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Mastercard from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $615.33.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5%

Mastercard stock traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $568.61. The stock had a trading volume of 501,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,818,463. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $564.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $552.56. The stock has a market cap of $518.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $449.04 and a 12 month high of $594.71.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 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 analysts' expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.93% and a return on equity of 200.01%. Mastercard's revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.67, for a total value of $178,049.04. Following the sale, the director owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,833,004.23. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 14,051 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.05, for a total transaction of $8,220,537.55. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,196,757.55. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,753 shares of company stock valued at $20,351,084. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the first quarter worth about $31,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.