Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,469 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 2,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,386,119 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,418,813,000 after purchasing an additional 28,834 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 426 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Trust grew its holdings in Mastercard by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 1,788 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warburton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 18.3% during the third quarter. Warburton Capital Management LLC now owns 517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA traded up $8.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $661.13. 1,936,242 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,351,180. The stock has a market cap of $575.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $600.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $542.40. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.01 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid 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 was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Key Mastercard News

Here’s some of the latest news about MA:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard opened its largest Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre of Excellence in Singapore, focused on AI-enabled payments, cybersecurity and agentic commerce. The hub could help develop new services and partnerships across the region; the company also plans to add more than 250 specialist roles in Singapore by 2029. Mastercard opens Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre
• Positive Sentiment: A partnership with Sage will bring Mastercard debit-card capabilities into accounting software for small businesses in France, potentially widening its reach in business payments. Mastercard valuation and Sage partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage also cites favorable analyst views of Mastercard, but the articles provide limited detail on new price targets or near-term earnings impact. With no major downside catalyst in the supplied reports, the recent news flow appears modestly supportive rather than a clear standalone driver of the shares.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,966,872.50. This represents a 10.78% 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $713.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Freedom Broker lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $695.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $632.00 target price (up from $609.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $667.00 to $726.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $713.21.

Mastercard Company 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.