WT Wealth Management Reduces Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

WT Wealth Management decreased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 27.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,083 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,530 shares during the period. WT Wealth Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas Exane raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Finally, 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.08.

Mastercard News Summary

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 Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $496.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $519.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $441.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Mastercard Company 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.