Mastercard Incorporated (MA) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 9th

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of 0.87 per share by the credit services provider on Monday, February 9th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This is a 14.5% increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76.

Mastercard has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Mastercard has a dividend payout ratio of 18.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Mastercard to earn $18.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.7%.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $580.20 on Wednesday. Mastercard has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $521.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $566.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The firm had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Mastercard will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $657.48.

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.