Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

MA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.50.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:MA opened at $551.25 on Friday. Mastercard has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $559.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $568.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $495.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%.Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 17,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.00, for a total transaction of $10,202,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,459,294. This represents a 35.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at $11,421,213,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,238,764,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,526,118 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,413,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,765,378 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.