6,000 Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 48.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,439 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the third quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% during the second quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Novem Group lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Novem Group now owns 4,680 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Price Performance

Mastercard stock opened at $638.50 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $644.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $586.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $536.21. The company has a market cap of $559.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.76.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.00, for a total transaction of $2,676,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,165,000. This trade represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.00, for a total value of $9,644,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,257,700. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,048 shares of company stock worth $32,527,203. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results exceeded expectations: Mastercard reported adjusted earnings of $5.31 per share versus the $5.17 consensus, while revenue rose 14% year over year to $9.81 billion, ahead of the $9.66 billion estimate. Net income increased 18% to approximately $4.6 billion. Reuters earnings article
• Positive Sentiment: Payment activity and services remained strong: Purchase volume rose 9%, cross-border volume increased 11%, and switched transactions grew 9% on a local-currency basis. Value-added services revenue advanced 19%, supported by fraud prevention, data and marketing offerings, while the adjusted operating margin reached 60.5%.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment improved materially: TD Cowen, Wells Fargo, RBC, Barclays, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Susquehanna all raised their price targets, with targets ranging from $700 to $750 and ratings including “buy,” “overweight” and “outperform.” Analysts also highlighted Mastercard’s potential in AI commerce, tokenized payments and stablecoins. Zacks earnings call article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard continues expanding its payments ecosystem through partnerships involving Google Pay, pay-by-bank services, co-branded cards and agentic commerce. These initiatives could support long-term transaction growth, although their near-term financial contribution is uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors face legal and financial risks. A proposed £5 billion UK collective lawsuit alleges Mastercard’s interchange fees harmed merchants. Separately, nine-month operating cash flow declined 6%, while buybacks and dividends exceeded operating cash flow and debt increased by roughly $4.9 billion. UK lawsuit article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MA. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. President Capital lifted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $633.00 to $674.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 price target (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $698.36.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.