WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST Raises Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 670,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 4.1% of WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $334,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Mastercard by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.08.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $499.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $496.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $441.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

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 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.