Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.11 EPS

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $26.08 on Thursday, hitting $574.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,393,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,576,199. Mastercard has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $576.56. The company has a market capitalization of $527.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $526.58 and a 200-day moving average of $499.80.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is an increase from Mastercard's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is 23.00%.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of several research reports. 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $515.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $593.00 to $580.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $567.29.

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.

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