Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Holdings Lowered by XXEC Inc.

XXEC Inc. lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 95,940 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,381 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 0.1% of XXEC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $47,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Robinswood Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at $25,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $632.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $664.71.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard has restarted international card-payment services in Syria for the first time in roughly 15 years after regulatory changes, potentially reopening transaction-volume opportunities in the country. Visa is also entering the market, limiting Mastercard’s ability to capture the opportunity exclusively. Visa, Mastercard begin first Syria global card payments in years
• Positive Sentiment: A new partnership with Asia-Pacific travel-experiences platform Klook aims to provide Mastercard cardholders with travel benefits and create additional spending touchpoints as experience-led tourism expands across the region. The initiative could support cross-border payments and customer engagement, although financial terms were not disclosed. Klook and Mastercard collaborate to enhance travelers’ experiences across Asia Pacific
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard said CFO Ling Hai will speak at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10. The presentation may offer updates on growth, travel spending and digital payments, but it does not change current financial guidance. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s name appears as a supporter of a Ripple XRPL hackathon, highlighting continued interest in blockchain development. However, the event is not evidence of a major XRP or XRPL commercial rollout by Mastercard. Mastercard’s Name Is on the Ripple Hackathon, But Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary argues that Mastercard’s strong earnings profile and roughly 61% net margin are already reflected in the stock’s elevated valuation. The shares’ retreat after nearing their high may therefore reflect profit-taking and concern that further gains require continued strong execution. Mastercard’s Record Stalls With 61% Margin Already Priced In

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $591.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $547.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $519.09. The firm has a market cap of $518.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at $17,781,695.49. This represents a 12.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.