Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Trading 0.9% Higher – Here’s Why

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) traded up 0.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $517.45 and last traded at $516.06. 2,456,664 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average session volume of 2,407,110 shares. The stock had previously closed at $511.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $575.00 target price (up previously from $565.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.76.

Mastercard Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $524.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $491.78. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $463.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is a boost from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MA. State Street Corp boosted its position in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after buying an additional 257,312 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,020,000 after buying an additional 8,035,099 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,800,836,000 after buying an additional 304,293 shares during the period. 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.