Mastercard’s (MA) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $575.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $565.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MA. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $521.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $478.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $398.26 and a 1-year high of $534.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $504.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.95.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total transaction of $42,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,965,195,590.40. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,370 shares of company stock valued at $46,797,168 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Mastercard by 46.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,785 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,120,000 after buying an additional 4,685 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 88.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 446,348 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $214,919,000 after purchasing an additional 209,943 shares during the period. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $662,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 35.2% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 8,723 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.