Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 167,269 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,181 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $95,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 68.5% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 155 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 946 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Mastercard by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenspring Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $741,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its settlement network to support stablecoins and more continuous transaction processing, which could improve long-term payment volume and keep the company competitive as crypto-based rails gain traction.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Mastercard may participate in a shared stablecoin platform with Stripe, Visa, and Coinbase point to new partnership-driven growth opportunities and broader adoption of Mastercard’s payment infrastructure.
• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital reiterated a buy rating and raised its price target to $631, signaling Wall Street confidence in Mastercard’s earnings power and upside potential.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $481.54 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $500.03 and its 200-day moving average is $525.34. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $425.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.04.

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.