Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

MA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial cut their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.81.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $513.24 on Monday. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $496.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $453.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MA. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in Mastercard by 7.3% in the first quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 139,844 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $70,089,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $130,902,000 after buying an additional 9,795 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 396.3% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,343,000 after acquiring an additional 36,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at $1,328,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched an Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence in South Africa, a move that could deepen relationships with governments and financial institutions while reinforcing its role in digital security. Mastercard launches Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence
• Positive Sentiment: The company is working with quantum computing firm OQC to explore better fraud detection, which could help Mastercard combat the large and growing fraud problem in payments. Mastercard (MA) Stock Rises as It Taps Quantum Tech to Fight $343 Billion Fraud Problem
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst began coverage on Mastercard with a bullish view, adding to sentiment support for the stock. This Mastercard Analyst Begins Coverage On A Bullish Note; Here Are Top 5 Initiations For Tuesday
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted that 87% of Moroccan SMEs remain confident about their business outlook, which is supportive of regional economic activity but is not a direct financial catalyst. Mastercard: 87% of Moroccan SMEs Confident About Business Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that a Visa-Mastercard settlement could affect rewards credit cards may pressure investor sentiment if it raises concerns about future card economics or rewards-related revenue. Visa, Mastercard settlement might impact rewards credit cards

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.