National Pension Service Purchases 107,831 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

National Pension Service increased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,682,172 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 107,831 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up about 0.7% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. National Pension Service’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $960,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Tacita Capital Inc boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birchbrook Inc. bought a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MA opened at $493.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $436.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. 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 fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $501.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $527.80.

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

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard received a New York BitLicense, strengthening its ability to pursue regulated digital asset, stablecoin, and blockchain payment initiatives. Mastercard Granted New York State Department of Financial Services BitLicense
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and commentary pieces highlighted Mastercard as a potential beneficiary of inflation and currency debasement trends, pointing to its high-margin payments model and durable global network. Mastercard: The Perfect Hedge Against Currency Debasement And Inflation
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s upcoming conference appearances keep management visible to investors, but these events are unlikely to move the stock on their own. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also presented at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference, which may offer strategic updates but does not appear to include a major new catalyst. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Presents at Bernstein 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference Transcript

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.