EULAV Asset Management Raises Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

EULAV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 29.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,649 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,536 shares during the quarter. EULAV Asset Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $16,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Mastercard by 820.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc grew its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchbrook Inc. purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MA shares. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.04.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s CEO said spending growth has been holding up across all income bands, suggesting consumers remain resilient despite higher gas and food prices. That supports the outlook for payment volume and transaction growth. Mastercard CEO: Spending growth has been happening across all income bands
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its open finance ecosystem through a partnership with PaidBy, adding cross-border open banking payments, local-currency account-to-account transactions, and faster settlement. Can Mastercard Strengthen Its Open Finance Ecosystem With PaidBy?
• Positive Sentiment: News that Mastercard is adding stablecoins and broader settlement windows points to continued innovation in payments infrastructure, which could help the company capture more transaction flows and improve settlement efficiency. Mastercard adds stablecoins to payment settlement system
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s leadership shake-up and AI-focused initiatives suggest management is trying to accelerate fintech growth and modernize the business, which investors may view as supportive of long-term expansion. Mastercard Leadership Shake-Up to Drive Fintech Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Mastercard’s strong value-added services and high-return business model, but this is more of a long-term valuation argument than a direct near-term catalyst. Mastercard: Advanced DuPont Analysis Reveals Value-Added Services Are Built To Skyrocket The Share Price
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard transactions in Cuba are set to be suspended, a reminder that geopolitical and sanctions-related issues can still disrupt some transaction volumes, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard transactions in Cuba to be suspended, central bank says

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $491.67 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $434.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $499.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $525.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard 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.