Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to Buyback $12.00 billion in Shares

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $525.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.28.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MA traded up $0.70 on Tuesday, reaching $531.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,964,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,462,280. The firm has a market cap of $487.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. 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 has a 12-month low of $416.53 and a 12-month high of $536.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $518.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.89.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. The business's revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is a boost from Mastercard's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Mastercard's payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.86, for a total value of $2,294,994.10. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by 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.

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