Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and six have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $667.8750.

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.8%

MA opened at $492.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $439.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $519.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $546.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its position in Mastercard by 1.0% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 1,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Mastercard by 1.7% during the third quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,091 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.