Sowell Financial Services LLC Sells 1,352 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Sowell Financial Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,220 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,352 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $17,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,984,867,000 after purchasing an additional 486,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 10.4% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Mastercard by 5.8% during the second 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. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 17.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,831,763,000 after buying an additional 554,366 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $710.00 to $688.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Mastercard from $655.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Mastercard from $554.00 to $633.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $682.66.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched its Global Money Platform with BVNK, enabling businesses to hold, convert and spend stablecoins alongside traditional currencies. The platform could create additional cross-border payment volume and strengthen Mastercard’s position as digital assets become integrated with mainstream commerce. Mastercard BVNK stablecoin platform
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Stablecoin Security, an API that screens transactions for fraud, scams and sanctions exposure before funds move on-chain. The product may reduce banks’ compliance concerns and provide Mastercard with a new risk-management revenue stream while supporting broader stablecoin adoption. Mastercard stablecoin security
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is opening developer APIs and demonstrating agent-pay capabilities that allow AI software to make multiple merchant payments within an approved budget. The initiative positions the network to capture emerging autonomous-commerce transactions and builds on the company’s data and AI capabilities. Mastercard AI agent payments
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and financial commentators view Mastercard as a high-quality compounder that may still be reasonably valued: shares trade at about 33.4 times earnings versus a recent 12-quarter average of 34.8 times. However, comparative value coverage of Corpay and Mastercard suggests investors are weighing MA’s stronger growth and margins against its higher valuation. Is the market underpricing Mastercard
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard’s CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares worth approximately $2.7 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the transaction limits its significance, but it remains a modest negative sentiment factor while the stock trades near record levels.
• Negative Sentiment: With MA valued at roughly 33 times earnings and near its 52-week high, expectations remain elevated. Investors will likely require continued strong execution after the latest quarter’s 14.1% revenue growth and earnings beat to justify further multiple expansion.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $622.28 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $579.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $537.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The company has a market cap of $545.13 billion, a PE ratio of 34.23, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $624.66.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 19.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 15,372 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $575.00, for a total transaction of $8,838,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,873,475. The trade was a 14.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,559.77. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 72,676 shares of company stock worth $41,966,586 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.