Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Shares Up 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)’s share price traded up 3.8% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $673.50 and last traded at $671.8450. Approximately 4,566,613 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 30% from the average daily volume of 3,512,167 shares. The stock had previously closed at $647.18.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: revenue rose 14% year over year to $9.81 billion and adjusted EPS increased 21.2%. Services revenue grew 19%, although higher incentives were flagged as a concern. Mastercard’s 19% Services Growth Steals the Q3 Show: Buy or Hold MA?
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $735 and maintained a Buy rating, signaling potential upside in its view. Truist Financial rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker downgraded MA from Buy to Hold, despite lifting its target to $725. The mixed call may temper enthusiasm after the stock’s recent rally. Freedom Broker rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a key risk: coverage notes the recent rally has outpaced changes in earnings estimates, leaving less room for disappointment. Rising incentives could also weigh on margins. Mastercard Stock Rose 22% in a Month. Here’s What Its Price Now Assumes
• Negative Sentiment: Visa and Mastercard face additional collective claims in the UK over card fees, adding potential legal and financial uncertainty. Visa and Mastercard face additional £5bn collective claims over card fees
• Neutral Sentiment: The CFO sold about $2.77 million of MA shares. The sale may attract attention, but the report provides no context on its purpose. Mastercard CFO stock sale

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Argus increased their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Mastercard from $631.00 to $647.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Mastercard from $668.00 to $731.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Clear Str raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $704.62.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $572.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $593.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $539.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.99 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 18.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total value of $217,038.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,035,181.07. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,966,872.50. This represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth about $34,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 58.7% in the third quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Financial Group acquired a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods.

The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.