Mastercard Raises Cash Dividend To $0.76 Per Share, Announces $12B Repurchase Program: Retail Chatter Shoots Up

Shares of Mastercard Inc (MA) were in the spotlight on Wednesday after the firm’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.76 per share, and a new share repurchase program.

The cash dividend represents a 15% increase over the previous dividend of $0.66 per share and will be paid on Feb. 7, 2025 to holders of record of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock as of Jan. 9, 2025.

The company’s new share buyback program authorizes it to repurchase up to $12 billion of its Class A common stock.

The program will become effective at the completion of the firm’s previously announced $11 billion program. As of Dec. 13, 2024, the company had approximately $3.9 billion remaining under the current approved share repurchase program.

Mastercard shares closed in the green on Tuesday and traded over 0.5% higher in Wednesday’s pre-market session.

Following the announcement, retail sentiment on Stocktwits flipped into the ‘bullish’ territory (57/100) from ‘neutral’ a day ago. The move was accompanied by ‘extremely high’ message volume (79/100) that hit a one-year high.

MA’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 7:03 a.m. ET on Dec. 18, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits

Recently, Jefferies reportedly raised the firm's price target on MasterCard to $610 from $590, while keeping a ‘Buy’ rating on the shares.

The firm projects that no incremental pricing would be needed in 2025 for MasterCard to reach 12% organic transaction processing fee growth, while only 50 points of incremental pricing would be required to hit 13% growth.

Meanwhile, Keefe Bruyette raised its price target on the stock to $618 from $580, while keeping an ‘Outperform’ rating on the shares.

Notably, shares of Mastercard have gained over 25% since the beginning of the year and are currently trading near their lifetime highs.

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