Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Announces $0.66 Quarterly Dividend

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.66 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th.

Mastercard has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Mastercard has a payout ratio of 15.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mastercard to earn $16.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.9%.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $501.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $465.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $359.77 and a 52-week high of $501.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $462.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $460.52.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. Research analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 111,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.07, for a total transaction of $50,068,770.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,672,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,801,697,969.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 9,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.06, for a total value of $4,072,169.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 58,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,585,476.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 111,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.07, for a total value of $50,068,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,672,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,801,697,969.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 725,152 shares of company stock worth $334,186,128. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Argus raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mastercard from $530.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $531.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.08.

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.