Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $667.88 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $664.40.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Robbins Farley boosted its position in Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $493.55 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $516.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $544.68. The company has a market capitalization of $440.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.