Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Boosted by Providence First Trust Co

Providence First Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 289.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,762 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $18,984,867,000 after purchasing an additional 486,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,559,779,000 after purchasing an additional 480,725 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,216,000 after purchasing an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,763,000 after purchasing an additional 554,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,862,527,000 after purchasing an additional 199,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: revenue rose 14% year over year to $9.81 billion and adjusted EPS increased 21.2%. Services revenue grew 19%, although higher incentives were flagged as a concern. Mastercard’s 19% Services Growth Steals the Q3 Show: Buy or Hold MA?
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $735 and maintained a Buy rating, signaling potential upside in its view. Truist Financial rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker downgraded MA from Buy to Hold, despite lifting its target to $725. The mixed call may temper enthusiasm after the stock’s recent rally. Freedom Broker rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a key risk: coverage notes the recent rally has outpaced changes in earnings estimates, leaving less room for disappointment. Rising incentives could also weigh on margins. Mastercard Stock Rose 22% in a Month. Here’s What Its Price Now Assumes
• Negative Sentiment: Visa and Mastercard face additional collective claims in the UK over card fees, adding potential legal and financial uncertainty. Visa and Mastercard face additional £5bn collective claims over card fees
• Neutral Sentiment: The CFO sold about $2.77 million of MA shares. The sale may attract attention, but the report provides no context on its purpose. Mastercard CFO stock sale

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. This trade represents a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the sale, the director owned 8,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Freedom Broker cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a report on Thursday. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on Mastercard from $710.00 to $688.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Mastercard from $597.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $711.00 target price on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $704.62.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock traded down $2.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $653.45. The company had a trading volume of 3,293,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,281,489. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $593.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $539.12. The company has a market cap of $572.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $681.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods.

The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.