Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Receives Outperform Rating from William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report published on Monday,RTT News reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Mastercard’s Q4 2024 earnings at $3.73 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $14.51 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.56 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $4.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $4.23 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $4.34 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $16.15 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $4.20 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $4.73 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $5.01 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $19.09 EPS.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MA. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.7 %

Mastercard stock opened at $532.38 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $509.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $475.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market cap of $488.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 52 week low of $404.32 and a 52 week high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 46.4% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,785 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,120,000 after purchasing an additional 4,685 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $391,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,512,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 10.3% during the first quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $608,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.