Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.16 EPS

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The credit services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 179.78% and a net margin of 46.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 earnings per share.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE MA traded up $8.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $508.23. 3,753,679 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,450,197. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $466.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.52 billion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a 1-year low of $378.48 and a 1-year high of $527.90.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price target on Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $537.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares in the company, valued at $12,423,320. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total value of $55,746,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,113,923,465.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 the SEC website. Also, CFO J. Mehra Sachin sold 13,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $6,114,745.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,423,320. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 340,809 shares of company stock valued at $159,610,703 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.