Dearborn Partners LLC Sells 5,197 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,399 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,197 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 1.4% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $30,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,160,657,000 after buying an additional 123,528 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $664.71.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard has restarted international card-payment services in Syria for the first time in roughly 15 years after regulatory changes, potentially reopening transaction-volume opportunities in the country. Visa is also entering the market, limiting Mastercard’s ability to capture the opportunity exclusively. Visa, Mastercard begin first Syria global card payments in years
• Positive Sentiment: A new partnership with Asia-Pacific travel-experiences platform Klook aims to provide Mastercard cardholders with travel benefits and create additional spending touchpoints as experience-led tourism expands across the region. The initiative could support cross-border payments and customer engagement, although financial terms were not disclosed. Klook and Mastercard collaborate to enhance travelers’ experiences across Asia Pacific
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard said CFO Ling Hai will speak at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10. The presentation may offer updates on growth, travel spending and digital payments, but it does not change current financial guidance. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s name appears as a supporter of a Ripple XRPL hackathon, highlighting continued interest in blockchain development. However, the event is not evidence of a major XRP or XRPL commercial rollout by Mastercard. Mastercard’s Name Is on the Ripple Hackathon, But Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary argues that Mastercard’s strong earnings profile and roughly 61% net margin are already reflected in the stock’s elevated valuation. The shares’ retreat after nearing their high may therefore reflect profit-taking and concern that further gains require continued strong execution. Mastercard’s Record Stalls With 61% Margin Already Priced In

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. This trade represents a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.07, for a total value of $572,070.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 39,916 shares in the company, valued at $22,834,746.12. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. 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 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $591.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $518.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $547.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.62.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.14%.

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.