Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Trading 0.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) shares rose 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $536.00 to $576.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Mastercard traded as high as $499.66 and last traded at $499.60. Approximately 305,399 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,431,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $498.02.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on MA. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their price target on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Compass Point began coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $6,114,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 145.6% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after buying an additional 1,053,616 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,253,734 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,096,470,000 after buying an additional 742,076 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $259,071,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $203,198,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $460.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $479.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $462.90.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.18%.

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.