Welch Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $9,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,185 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $8,587,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 9.7% during the first quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 14.8% during the first quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC now owns 628 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 14.6% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,711 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifeWealth Investments LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 5.0% in the first quarter. LifeWealth Investments LLC now owns 773 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to attract investor interest as a trending stock, which can support shares by keeping attention on the company’s earnings and growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted new travel-focused offerings, including its “Priceless Africa” experience, reinforcing its strategy to deepen consumer engagement and build higher-value travel spending across its network. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and MarginEdge launched a commercial charge card for restaurants, a small but potentially useful expansion of Mastercard’s commercial payments footprint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary continues to frame Mastercard as a premium payments company tied to international expansion, but some articles also argue the stock remains expensive and has lagged over longer periods, which could temper enthusiasm. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional pieces focused on broad “what to know” coverage and consumer trends, but did not report a major new catalyst that would materially change Mastercard’s near-term fundamentals. Article Title

Mastercard Stock Up 2.2%

MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. 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 $441.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $496.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.08.

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.