Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Position Raised by Railway Pension Investments Ltd

Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 334,260 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,660 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 2.2% of Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $190,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $265,233,000 after purchasing an additional 28,331 shares during the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 153.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $130,902,000 after buying an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longbow Finance SA grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 50.3% in the 3rd quarter. Longbow Finance SA now owns 23,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,090,000 after buying an additional 7,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.04.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s BitLicense approval strengthens its ability to build regulated digital asset, stablecoin, and blockchain-based payment infrastructure, which investors may see as a long-term growth opportunity. Mastercard BitLicense Approval Opens New Chapter In Digital Assets And Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage suggesting Mastercard is well positioned in the stablecoin battle, alongside peers like SoFi, Block, and Robinhood, highlights the company’s relevance in a fast-growing payments trend. How Mastercard, SoFi, Block are heating up the stablecoin battle
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on Mastercard despite recent relative underperformance versus fintech peers, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside in the stock’s fundamentals and franchise strength. How Is Mastercard’s Stock Performance Compared to Other FinTech Stocks?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation-focused commentary notes Mastercard has pulled back from recent highs and trades at a premium multiple, which may keep some investors cautious even as the long-term outlook remains constructive. Mastercard (MA) Valuation Check After Recent Pullback And Premium P/E Multiple
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard also announced upcoming investor conference appearances, which is routine corporate communication rather than a major operating update. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $494.45 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $501.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $527.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $436.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.