GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,711 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MA. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.08.

Mastercard Price Performance

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 has a market cap of $441.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average is $496.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $519.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.14%.

Key Headlines 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 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.