Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Receives “Outperform” Rating from William Blair

Mastercard (NYSE:MA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at William Blair in a research report issued on Monday,RTT News reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on MA. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped their price target on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $566.00 to $572.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $549.16.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Mastercard stock traded up $1.79 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $522.65. The stock had a trading volume of 813,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,451,816. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a 1 year low of $404.32 and a 1 year high of $534.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $479.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $473.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $410,813,000 after buying an additional 37,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,031,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,497,160,000 after purchasing an additional 138,842 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $608,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 48.6% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 4,928 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,474,151,000 after buying an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by 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.