Savant Capital LLC Cuts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Savant Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,334 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,796 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vulcan Value Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $265,233,000 after acquiring an additional 28,331 shares during the period. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 153.6% in the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 9,795 shares during the period. Finally, Longbow Finance SA lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 50.3% in the third quarter. Longbow Finance SA now owns 23,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $13,090,000 after acquiring an additional 7,704 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s BitLicense approval strengthens its ability to build regulated digital asset, stablecoin, and blockchain-based payment infrastructure, which investors may see as a long-term growth opportunity. Mastercard BitLicense Approval Opens New Chapter In Digital Assets And Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage suggesting Mastercard is well positioned in the stablecoin battle, alongside peers like SoFi, Block, and Robinhood, highlights the company’s relevance in a fast-growing payments trend. How Mastercard, SoFi, Block are heating up the stablecoin battle
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on Mastercard despite recent relative underperformance versus fintech peers, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside in the stock’s fundamentals and franchise strength. How Is Mastercard’s Stock Performance Compared to Other FinTech Stocks?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation-focused commentary notes Mastercard has pulled back from recent highs and trades at a premium multiple, which may keep some investors cautious even as the long-term outlook remains constructive. Mastercard (MA) Valuation Check After Recent Pullback And Premium P/E Multiple
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard also announced upcoming investor conference appearances, which is routine corporate communication rather than a major operating update. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Mastercard in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Macquarie Infrastructure increased their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

Mastercard stock opened at $494.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $501.23 and a 200 day moving average of $527.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $436.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $480.50 and a 12-month high of $601.77. 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 (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.