Mastercard Incorporated (MA) To Go Ex-Dividend on October 9th

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th.

Mastercard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Mastercard has a payout ratio of 15.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Mastercard to earn $16.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.9%.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.7 %

MA opened at $501.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $465.94 billion, a PE ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a twelve month low of $359.77 and a twelve month high of $501.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $462.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $460.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 179.78% and a net margin of 46.45%. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $532.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Mastercard from $528.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.08.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 111,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.07, for a total value of $50,068,770.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,672,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,801,697,969.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 725,152 shares of company stock worth $334,186,128 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% 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.