Monness Crespi & Hardt Upgrades Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to Buy

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) was upgraded by stock analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $640.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.65% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $575.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $581.72.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.5 %

MA stock traded down $2.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $563.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,709,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,290. The company has a market cap of $516.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $428.86 and a 12 month high of $576.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $527.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $500.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Services of America Inc. now owns 475 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,797 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Mastercard by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,190 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mastercard

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.