UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Stock Price

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) had its target price lifted by UBS Group from $670.00 to $750.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the credit services provider’s stock. UBS Group‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.46% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $695.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $696.00 to $742.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $702.91.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $638.50 on Friday. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $644.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $559.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $586.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $536.21.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued 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 return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. The company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 19.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,559.77. This trade represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $575.00, for a total value of $8,838,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,873,475. This represents a 14.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,420 shares of company stock valued at $22,882,963 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,984,867,000 after buying an additional 486,283 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 10.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,559,779,000 after acquiring an additional 480,725 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,216,000 after acquiring an additional 42,871 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,862,527,000 after acquiring an additional 199,424 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,763,000 after acquiring an additional 554,366 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.