Capital World Investors Sells 1,476,057 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Capital World Investors trimmed its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,344,879 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,476,057 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned 0.37% of Mastercard worth $1,909,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,791,976 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,161,003,000 after purchasing an additional 444,142 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Sarl lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 110,616 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $63,148,000 after purchasing an additional 13,791 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 48,915 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $27,925,000 after purchasing an additional 7,280 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. now owns 10,293 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock 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 issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s CEO said spending growth has been holding up across all income bands, suggesting consumers remain resilient despite higher gas and food prices. That supports the outlook for payment volume and transaction growth. Mastercard CEO: Spending growth has been happening across all income bands
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its open finance ecosystem through a partnership with PaidBy, adding cross-border open banking payments, local-currency account-to-account transactions, and faster settlement. Can Mastercard Strengthen Its Open Finance Ecosystem With PaidBy?
• Positive Sentiment: News that Mastercard is adding stablecoins and broader settlement windows points to continued innovation in payments infrastructure, which could help the company capture more transaction flows and improve settlement efficiency. Mastercard adds stablecoins to payment settlement system
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s leadership shake-up and AI-focused initiatives suggest management is trying to accelerate fintech growth and modernize the business, which investors may view as supportive of long-term expansion. Mastercard Leadership Shake-Up to Drive Fintech Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Mastercard’s strong value-added services and high-return business model, but this is more of a long-term valuation argument than a direct near-term catalyst. Mastercard: Advanced DuPont Analysis Reveals Value-Added Services Are Built To Skyrocket The Share Price
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard transactions in Cuba are set to be suspended, a reminder that geopolitical and sanctions-related issues can still disrupt some transaction volumes, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard transactions in Cuba to be suspended, central bank says

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of MA opened at $491.67 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $434.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $499.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $525.11. 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 (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.