Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Decreased by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,260,969 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 997,057 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for about 1.3% of Janus Henderson Group PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,985,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings 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 last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its cross-border payments footprint through a new partnership involving PaidBy and joined the Appia Foundation, reinforcing its growth opportunity in international payments. Mastercard (MA) Expands Cross Border Payments With PaidBy And Joins Appia Foundation
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.87 per share, signaling ongoing financial strength and a continued commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Mastercard Board of Directors Announces Quarterly Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Management commentary on consumer spending suggests households are still navigating the economy well, which is important for Mastercard because transaction volume tends to track consumer activity. Consumers are doing well in navigating the current economic environment, says Mastercard’s Meyer
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst-style coverage highlighted Mastercard as a top-ranked momentum stock, reflecting continued market interest in the company’s earnings quality and durable growth profile. MasterCard (MA) is a Top-Ranked Momentum Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s annual meeting results were released, but the filing appears routine and does not include an obvious new catalyst for the stock. Mastercard Announces Annual Meeting Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles focused on Mastercard executives’ views on AI, marketing, and “agentic commerce,” which are strategically interesting but mostly long-term narrative drivers rather than immediate stock catalysts. Why Agentic Commerce Could Be a Game-Changer for Mastercard

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $492.93 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $499.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $522.41. 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 one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $435.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MA. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

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.