Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Price Target Raised to $750.00

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $685.00 to $750.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.73% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Evercore lifted their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $655.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $690.76.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.2%

MA traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $637.03. 573,818 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,491,501. Mastercard has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $644.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $558.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $585.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $535.85.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 19.91 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.00, for a total transaction of $9,644,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,257,700. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,781,695.49. This represents a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 56,048 shares of company stock valued at $32,527,203 in the last quarter. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.4% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 28,205 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $14,093,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% in the second quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 141,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $72,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,656,528 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $850,004,000 after purchasing an additional 82,793 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.1% in the first quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at $227,584,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings and revenue exceeded expectations. Adjusted EPS increased 21% year over year to $5.31, above the $5.17 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 14% to $9.81 billion, ahead of expectations near $9.66 billion. Net income increased 18% to approximately $4.6 billion. Reuters Mastercard earnings article
• Positive Sentiment: Payment volumes remained healthy. Gross dollar volume rose 7%, purchase volume increased 9%, cross-border volume climbed 11% in local-currency terms and switched transactions grew 9%. The results suggest consumer spending has held up despite inflation and economic uncertainty. Quiver Quant Mastercard payment trends article
• Positive Sentiment: Higher-margin services are strengthening growth. Value-added services and solutions revenue increased 19% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by fraud prevention, data, marketing and cybersecurity offerings. Adjusted operating margin reached 60.5%.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors see additional growth opportunities beyond card payments. Mastercard highlighted tokenized payments for agentic commerce, artificial intelligence partnerships, stablecoin-related capabilities and new digital-payment initiatives in markets including Nigeria and Europe. PYMNTS Mastercard tokenized payments article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard repurchased 5.3 million shares during the quarter and continued returning capital through dividends and buybacks, supporting per-share results. However, institutional ownership data showed a mixed pattern of additions and reductions.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and balance-sheet risks remain. Mastercard faces a proposed £5 billion UK collective lawsuit alleging excessive interchange fees. Separately, operating cash flow declined 6% over the first nine months, while buybacks and dividends exceeded operating cash flow and debt increased by roughly $4.9 billion. Yahoo Finance Mastercard UK lawsuit article

Mastercard Company Profile

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.