Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Upgraded at Monness Crespi & Hardt

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 firm currently has a $640.00 price objective on the credit services provider’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s target price suggests a potential upside of 13.65% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $581.72.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA traded down $2.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $563.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,709,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,290. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $527.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $500.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $213,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,080,000. Abacus Planning Group Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 7.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 167,963 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $82,940,000 after buying an additional 11,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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.