Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $606.25 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $606.25.

MA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Macquarie decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $633.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $635.00 price objective (up from $591.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.45, for a total transaction of $85,417.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,555 shares in the company, valued at $2,024,394.75. This represents a 4.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edward Grunde Mclaughlin sold 7,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.68, for a total value of $3,813,337.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,459,292.32. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,207 shares of company stock worth $12,664,529. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whalerock Point Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 14,678 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,729,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $194,141,000 after buying an additional 9,611 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $35,932,000 after buying an additional 2,931 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 71,862 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,841,000 after buying an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Finally, Courier Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,867,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $578.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Mastercard has a 1 year low of $428.86 and a 1 year high of $582.23. The firm has a market cap of $527.27 billion, a PE ratio of 41.64, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $532.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $533.88.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The credit services provider reported $3.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 188.47% and a net margin of 45.71%. The company had revenue of $7.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

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.