Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $562.76 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $562.76.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MA. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its stake in Mastercard by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after purchasing an additional 62,891 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $511.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $523.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $491.10. The company has a market capitalization of $469.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.72, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $416.53 and a twelve month high of $537.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.00%.

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.