Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

MA has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $659.81.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $509.83 on Tuesday. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $480.50 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $454.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $508.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $538.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after purchasing an additional 466,514 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.