Cantor Fitzgerald Issues Positive Forecast for Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock Price

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its price target lifted by Cantor Fitzgerald from $695.00 to $765.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the credit services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MA. Mizuho set a $711.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $722.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, President Capital boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.91.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $638.50 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $586.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $536.21. The company has a market cap of $559.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $644.24.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.38 EPS. Research analysts predict that Mastercard will post 19.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total value of $218,377.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,861,559.77. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,420 shares of company stock valued at $22,882,963 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MA. Robinswood Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Financial Group purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.