Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $661.90 and last traded at $661.90, with a volume of 9,214 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $647.18.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s expansion of Samsung Pay in Morocco could increase access to digital payments and support transaction growth in the market. Samsung Pay expansion in Morocco
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Safwa Islamic Bank launched the Shiffa Card, adding a new product to the company’s partnership and payments portfolio. Shiffa Card launch
• Positive Sentiment: A recent analyst upgrade helped lift the stock in the prior session, offering a supportive signal for sentiment. Analyst upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results showed revenue up 14% year over year to $9.81 billion and EPS of $5.31, both ahead of consensus estimates. This provides a strong operating backdrop, though the results were released last week. Third-quarter results
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Ling Hai sold shares in transactions under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Insider selling can weigh on sentiment, but the planned nature of the sales makes them a less direct signal about his current outlook. CFO share sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings raised Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $668.00 to $731.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.91.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $577.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $589.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $537.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.38 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.99 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,966,872.50. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,607 shares in the company, valued at $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in 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 valued at $14,093,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 141,828 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $72,843,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,656,528 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $850,004,000 after buying an additional 82,793 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.1% in the 1st quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,003 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,996,000 after buying an additional 4,675 shares during the period. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 81,392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $44,885,000 after buying an additional 4,751 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.