Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Hits New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $537.00 and last traded at $535.88, with a volume of 769645 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $531.01.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MA. KeyCorp upped their price target on Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Monday, November 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $562.88.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $492.71 billion, a PE ratio of 40.17, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $518.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.89.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 655 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. American Trust raised its holdings in Mastercard by 13.8% in the third quarter. American Trust now owns 11,157 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 41,645 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,563,000 after purchasing an additional 4,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 30.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 75,960 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,509,000 after acquiring an additional 17,648 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.