Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.76 Per Share

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 17th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the credit services provider on Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66.

Mastercard has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Mastercard has a payout ratio of 16.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Mastercard to earn $16.27 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 16.2%.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA opened at $531.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $518.69 and a 200 day moving average of $482.89. Mastercard has a fifty-two week low of $416.53 and a fifty-two week high of $536.75. The firm has a market cap of $487.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.17, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a return on equity of 178.27% and a net margin of 45.26%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total transaction of $2,294,994.10. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 15,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,363,085.66. The trade was a 23.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MA. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.88.

Mastercard announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Company Profile

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.