Mastercard (MA) Expected to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) is expected to be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect Mastercard to post earnings of $3.71 per share and revenue of $7,385,626.37 billion for the quarter. Persons interested in listening to the company's earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.16. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.39 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Mastercard to post $14 EPS for the current fiscal year and $16 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $6.59 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $533.77. The company had a trading volume of 2,195,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,575,484. The stock has a market cap of $489.91 billion, a PE ratio of 40.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $537.70. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $524.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $496.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. This is a boost from Mastercard's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $566.63.

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.