Tigress Financial Issues Positive Forecast for Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock Price

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its target price increased by Tigress Financial from $550.00 to $685.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Tigress Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

MA has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective (up previously from $614.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target 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. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $566.02 on Thursday. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $576.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $519.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $533.94 and its 200-day moving average is $508.28.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Mastercard by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 205,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $101,523,000 after purchasing an additional 11,331 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Mastercard by 14.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,874,568 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $925,662,000 after buying an additional 241,297 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC now owns 509 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 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.