Strs Ohio Sells 10,627 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Strs Ohio cut its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 2.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 462,274 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 10,627 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 0.9% of Strs Ohio’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $230,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 861.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,324,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,648,748 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $497,311,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its global payments strategy through a new partnership with VEON to improve accessible financial services across Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, which could support long-term transaction growth and network usage. VEON and Mastercard Join Forces to Accelerate Accessibility of Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard also announced cybersecurity-related initiatives in Africa, reinforcing its brand with governments and potentially strengthening trust in its payment infrastructure over time. Mastercard partners govts to protect Africa’s cyberspace
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with coverage noting Mastercard’s strong history of beating earnings estimates and suggesting it may post another upside surprise next quarter. Will MasterCard (MA) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler upgraded Mastercard to strong-buy, a vote of confidence that can help support the valuation. Mastercard upgraded by Piper Sandler
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider Raj Seshadri sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sales are worth noting, but they do not necessarily signal negative fundamentals. SEC filing for insider sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader commentary on stablecoins and Visa’s Open USD push highlights increasing competition and change in payments, but the articles frame Mastercard as well-positioned rather than under immediate pressure. Visa, Mastercard and 140 firms launch Open USD

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MA. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.81.

Mastercard Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $539.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $497.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $518.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $476.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.