First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 16.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 992,696 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 142,324 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $496,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after buying an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 861.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,324,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,648,748 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $497,311,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $537.33 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $474.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $515.35.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 target price for the company. Eight research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.92.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the first co-badged Jaywan-Mastercard credit card, a new partnership that could expand Mastercard’s footprint in the UAE and support payment-network volume growth. Al Etihad Payments, Mastercard launch world’s first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was highlighted as a strong momentum stock, reinforcing the view that the company still has favorable fundamental and trading characteristics despite recent weakness. Here’s Why MasterCard (MA) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Lithic introduced a way to make small-business loan proceeds spend-ready, a payments-adjacent product that could deepen Mastercard’s role in SMB finance workflows. Lithic and Mastercard Make SMB Loans Ready to Spend

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total transaction of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,625,225. This represents a 22.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Mastercard

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.