Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Sold by StoneX Group Inc.

StoneX Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 27.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,829 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,821 shares during the quarter. StoneX Group Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the third quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the third quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 513 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Athena Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: revenue rose 14% year over year to $9.81 billion and adjusted EPS increased 21.2%. Services revenue grew 19%, although higher incentives were flagged as a concern. Mastercard’s 19% Services Growth Steals the Q3 Show: Buy or Hold MA?
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $735 and maintained a Buy rating, signaling potential upside in its view. Truist Financial rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker downgraded MA from Buy to Hold, despite lifting its target to $725. The mixed call may temper enthusiasm after the stock’s recent rally. Freedom Broker rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a key risk: coverage notes the recent rally has outpaced changes in earnings estimates, leaving less room for disappointment. Rising incentives could also weigh on margins. Mastercard Stock Rose 22% in a Month. Here’s What Its Price Now Assumes
• Negative Sentiment: Visa and Mastercard face additional collective claims in the UK over card fees, adding potential legal and financial uncertainty. Visa and Mastercard face additional £5bn collective claims over card fees
• Neutral Sentiment: The CFO sold about $2.77 million of MA shares. The sale may attract attention, but the report provides no context on its purpose. Mastercard CFO stock sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price objective (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Clear Str raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their target price on Mastercard from $580.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Mastercard from $722.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $704.62.

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

Mastercard stock opened at $653.45 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $593.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $681.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $572.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.20%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,861,559.77. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total transaction of $1,907,344.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,650 shares in the company, valued at $21,403,600. The trade was a 8.18% 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.