Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Earns “Buy” Rating from Mizuho

Mizuho reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a $480.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Mastercard from $432.00 to $499.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $452.00 to $504.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Mastercard from $433.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $425.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $479.62.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $481.57 on Wednesday. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $355.82 and a twelve month high of $490.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The stock has a market cap of $449.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.71, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $465.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.10. Mastercard had a return on equity of 191.22% and a net margin of 44.60%. The firm had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 8th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.32%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $11.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total transaction of $97,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 97,543,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,527,976,823. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.25, for a total transaction of $97,450.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 97,543,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,527,976,823. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Craig Vosburg sold 8,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.26, for a total value of $3,829,314.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,003,217.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,628 shares of company stock worth $23,309,067. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,253,734 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,096,470,000 after purchasing an additional 742,076 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,255,582 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $13,866,020,000 after acquiring an additional 495,768 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Mastercard by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,041,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,974,478,000 after acquiring an additional 676,452 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Mastercard by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,843,692 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,509,328,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385,640 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,608,023 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,803,956,000 after purchasing an additional 605,909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.