Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 52.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,757 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,942 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% during the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $653.81.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.8%

Mastercard stock opened at $522.60 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $496.78 and a 200 day moving average of $519.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $461.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced 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 business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.14%.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was upgraded by Piper Sandler to strong-buy, signaling improved analyst sentiment and supporting the stock. The Fly report on Piper Sandler upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is being mentioned as part of the new Open USD stablecoin consortium, which could strengthen its position in digital payments and cross-border settlement if adoption grows. Open USD consortium article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced a new cybersecurity centre in Africa, a move that highlights investment in payment security and could support long-term network trust and adoption. Mastercard cybersecurity centre article
• Neutral Sentiment: A commentary piece questioned whether Mastercard trades at a premium valuation despite stablecoin-related developments, but it did not introduce a new fundamental catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate review of a Citi AAdvantage Mastercard credit card is consumer-oriented and not likely to materially affect Mastercard’s earnings outlook. CNBC Citi AAdvantage Globe Mastercard review

About Mastercard

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.