Mastercard’s (MA) Outperform Rating Reiterated at William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a research note released on Monday,RTT News reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Mastercard’s Q4 2024 earnings at $3.73 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $14.51 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.56 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $4.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $4.23 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $4.34 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $16.15 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $4.20 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $4.73 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $5.01 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $19.09 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MA. Barclays boosted their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $549.16.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $532.38 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market capitalization of $488.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $475.63. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $404.32 and a twelve month high of $534.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total transaction of $2,310,173.50. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after buying an additional 304,293 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in Mastercard by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 41,645 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,563,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in Mastercard by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 75,960 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,509,000 after acquiring an additional 17,648 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 3rd quarter worth $460,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 512.1% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,516 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,143,000 after purchasing an additional 15,491 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.