Mastercard’s (MA) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $565.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $536.00.

MA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. William Blair raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $537.92.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $508.08 on Friday. Mastercard has a 1 year low of $378.48 and a 1 year high of $527.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $495.77 and its 200 day moving average is $466.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,885.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,970,017,774.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,370 shares of company stock worth $153,495,958 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% during the third quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 1,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.6% during the third quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 827 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% during the third quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 455 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quilter Plc raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 801 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.