Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,386,119 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 28,834 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,418,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 426 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 1,788 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Warburton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Warburton Capital Management LLC now owns 517 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,020,960 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,196,000 after buying an additional 43,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barr E S & Co. grew its position in Mastercard by 4.5% in the third quarter. Barr E S & Co. now owns 74,121 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,876,000 after acquiring an additional 3,191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Mastercard News

These are some of the MA news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its price target on Mastercard to $764 from $730 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, implying 17.1% upside from the cited $652.48 reference price. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding payment capabilities and partnerships. It completed a reported agentic travel transaction, and separately partnered with Glyde to bring virtual-card payments to Southern Africa’s travel sector—developments that could support new use cases and transaction activity. PYMNTS article Mastercard and Glyde article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s Canadian holiday survey found shoppers are emphasizing budgeting and value. That is useful context for consumer spending, but the report does not provide evidence of a change in Mastercard’s payment volumes. Yahoo Finance article

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,607 shares in the company, valued at $5,035,181.07. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $695.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $731.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.21.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $652.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $568.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $598.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $541.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $681.99.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.20%.

About Mastercard

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.