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

Royal Bank Of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Free Report) in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $650.00 price objective on the credit services provider's stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MA. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Mastercard from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $655.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.90.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.0%

MA stock traded up $0.21 on Tuesday, hitting $555.73. 2,721,925 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,666,439. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $506.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.02. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $594.71. The business's fifty day moving average is $567.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $548.26.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.21% and a return on equity of 196.87%. Mastercard's revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 312 shares of Mastercard 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 directly owned 8,469 shares in the company, valued at $4,833,004.23. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total transaction of $601,447.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,815.17. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,753 shares of company stock valued at $20,351,084. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, 10Elms LLP bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.