Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 65,860 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,542,577 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 65,860 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 0.8% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.17% of Mastercard worth $770,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $130,902,000 after buying an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 396.3% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,343,000 after buying an additional 36,848 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $1,328,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,344,000 after buying an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.08.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to attract investor interest as a trending stock, which can support shares by keeping attention on the company’s earnings and growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted new travel-focused offerings, including its “Priceless Africa” experience, reinforcing its strategy to deepen consumer engagement and build higher-value travel spending across its network. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and MarginEdge launched a commercial charge card for restaurants, a small but potentially useful expansion of Mastercard’s commercial payments footprint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary continues to frame Mastercard as a premium payments company tied to international expansion, but some articles also argue the stock remains expensive and has lagged over longer periods, which could temper enthusiasm. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional pieces focused on broad “what to know” coverage and consumer trends, but did not report a major new catalyst that would materially change Mastercard’s near-term fundamentals. Article Title

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $499.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $496.99 and a 200-day moving average of $519.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $441.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

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.