BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $550.00 to $565.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MA. Compass Point initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $525.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $521.89 on Thursday. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $395.55 and a 1-year high of $534.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $479.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $504.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $471.18.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.45, for a total value of $50,952,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 91,924,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. The trade was a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MA. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after purchasing an additional 37,486 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after buying an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new position in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,854,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mastercard

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.