Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $572.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. William Blair upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $565.00 price objective (up previously from $536.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $521.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $504.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $395.55 and a 52-week high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 90,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.80, for a total transaction of $42,192,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 91,649,308 shares in the company, valued at $42,965,195,590.40. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. This represents a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 99,370 shares of company stock valued at $46,797,168. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MA. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.