Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to Repurchase $12.00 billion in Outstanding Shares

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Mastercard from $544.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.28.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $0.70 on Tuesday, hitting $531.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,964,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,462,280. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $518.69 and a 200-day moving average of $482.89. The company has a market capitalization of $487.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 12-month low of $416.53 and a 12-month high of $536.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.