Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Daiwa Capital Markets

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $610.00 target price on the credit services provider’s stock. Daiwa Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential upside of 10.67% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MA. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Macquarie increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $669.18.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

MA stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Monday, hitting $551.18. The company had a trading volume of 934,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,257,013. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $555.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $564.48. The stock has a market cap of $494.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Curio Wealth LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 22,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 225 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 153.6% during the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 309,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $175,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 88.9% during the third quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 15,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,723,000 after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 3,694.7% during the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,288,000 after purchasing an additional 9,052 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.