Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Purchased by Everest Financial Group LLC

Everest Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,316 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,813 shares during the quarter. Everest Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fundsmith LLP purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $639,458,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in Mastercard by 147.2% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 1,682,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $863,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,671 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Mastercard by 295.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 860,011 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $441,702,000 after buying an additional 642,724 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 2,941,951 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,622,398,000 after buying an additional 611,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth $293,574,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $652.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $568.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $598.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $541.70.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MA shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $711.00 price target on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $725.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In related news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $641.00, for a total transaction of $2,767,197.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,915,750. The trade was a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total transaction of $1,907,344.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 36,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,403,600. This represents a 8.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 in the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Mastercard News

Investors following MA have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its price target on Mastercard to $764 from $730 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, implying 17.1% upside from the cited $652.48 reference price. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is investing in regional growth. The company plans to add more than 250 specialist roles in Singapore by the end of 2029, while a new agreement with Nigeria’s SMEDAN will advance digitization for small businesses. These initiatives may broaden its regional reach, though hiring also entails investment. Straits Times article Daily Post article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s Canadian holiday survey found shoppers are emphasizing budgeting and value. That is useful context for consumer spending, but the report does not provide evidence of a change in Mastercard’s payment volumes. Yahoo Finance article

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.