Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $645.00 to $654.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price objective on Mastercard in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $654.81.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $571.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $513.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Mastercard has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $554.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $566.33.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 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 company had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.44%.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Robbins Farley raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.