Piper Sandler Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Mastercard (NYSE:MA)

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $565.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $536.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted 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. William Blair upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $537.92.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MA traded up $8.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $508.08. The company had a trading volume of 3,753,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,450,197. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $378.48 and a 12 month high of $527.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $469.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $495.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $466.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 179.78% and a net margin of 46.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at $43,113,923,465.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total transaction of $55,746,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,423,320. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.