MasterCard (NYSE: MA) received a number of ratings updates from brokerages and research firms in the last week:

  • MasterCard had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Credit Agricole. They now have a $515.00 price target on the stock.
  • MasterCard was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a $525.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $437.00. They wrote, “Following their investor day in NYC, we are raising our rating on MA to Buy from Neutral, as we believe the company can continue to deliver strong 20% long-term earnings growth, and the pull back in spend is stabilizing based on our channel checks and recent data. In addition, our contacts suggest the regulatory environment for the networks (a key concern that’s held us back) is in good shape and that the merchant settlement MOU will likely get preliminary approval despite merchant pushback. While we recognize we are late on our call and the easy money has been made, we see no reason to remain on the side-lines given the attractive risk/reward, and our general positive view on cards & the broader equity market. And for perspective, rising equity markets should also support spend, as the top 20% income bracket drives 40% of U.S. consumer spend and ~50% of discretionary (i.e. wealth effect). Raising our target to $525.”
  • MasterCard had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Oppenheimer.
  • MasterCard had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at JPMorgan Chase. They now have a $566.00 price target on the stock.
  • MasterCard had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Janney Montgomery Scott. They now have a $400.00 price target on the stock.
  • MasterCard had its price target raised by analysts at Argus from $475.00 to $525.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.

MasterCard traded down 1.26% on Wednesday, hitting $445.84. MasterCard has a 1-year low of $293.01 and a 1-year high of $466.98. The company has a market cap of $55.640 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06.

MasterCard Incorporated (MasterCard) is a global payments and technology company that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, Governments and businesses worldwide, enabling them to use electronic forms of payment instead of cash and checks.