Mastercard’s (MA) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Mizuho

Mizuho reissued their buy rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a $435.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Mastercard from $437.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Mastercard from $435.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $472.00 to $476.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $442.00 to $452.00 in a report on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mastercard from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $440.96.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MA opened at $411.81 on Tuesday. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $276.87 and a 52-week high of $412.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $394.57 and its 200-day moving average is $377.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $388.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.60, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.11.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.10% and a net margin of 43.37%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 12.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.89, for a total transaction of $50,060,928.24. Following the sale, the insider now owns 98,927,485 shares in the company, valued at $39,362,257,006.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,533,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at $18,596,400. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.89, for a total value of $50,060,928.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 98,927,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,362,257,006.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 399,783 shares of company stock worth $158,204,310 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MA. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Mastercard by 98,203.6% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 825,436,694 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $324,644,252,000 after acquiring an additional 824,597,013 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $3,308,223,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 111,819.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,983,231 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,080,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,977,885 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 241.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,791,626 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $507,830,000 after acquiring an additional 3,386,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 900.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,903,107 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $115,047,000 after buying an additional 2,612,838 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.94% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It facilitates the processing of payment transactions, including authorization, clearing, and settlement, as well as delivers other payment-related products and services.