Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Mastercard (NYSE:MA)

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $572.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA traded down $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $520.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,334,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,447,006. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $503.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $470.59. 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 has a 1-year low of $395.55 and a 1-year high of $534.03. The stock has a market cap of $477.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. This trade represents a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 109,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 91,924,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,970,017,774.60. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 208,370 shares of company stock valued at $97,749,218. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 138,842 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at about $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 48.6% in the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter worth $17,854,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.