Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and six have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $667.8750.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Compass Point upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of MA stock opened at $492.79 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $519.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $546.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $439.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Mastercard by 820.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter worth $29,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Robbins Farley raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.