Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,497 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,744,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,612,087,000 after buying an additional 466,514 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after buying an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after acquiring an additional 759,584 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA opened at $531.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $469.90 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.73. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $506.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $515.08. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.73 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MA. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $640.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $671.00 to $664.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mastercard news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,702,934.17. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the launch of the first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card, which could expand Mastercard’s acceptance and deepen its presence in the UAE payments ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Mastercard as a strong momentum stock and a top non-AI pick among retail investors may be supporting sentiment around the company’s durable network model and defensive appeal. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s AI-focused commentary from Jill Kramer frames artificial intelligence as a tool for creativity and insight, but it does not appear to be a direct near-term earnings catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Articles about Mastercard’s patent work, World Cup payment performance, and a potential Vocalink sale suggest ongoing strategic activity, but the market impact is still unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Comparisons with Affirm argue that MA has less room to run because Affirm offers faster growth, lower valuation, and higher analyst upside, which may be pressuring Mastercard’s relative appeal. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Mastercard may sell a majority stake in its UK payments subsidiary Vocalink raised questions about strategy and exposure to critical payment infrastructure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish commentary about Mastercard “betting billions” on technology that could disrupt its own business, plus stablecoin competition headlines, highlight growing long-term competitive threats in payments. Article Title

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.