Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lessened its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,558 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,378 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $497,311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.2%

MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.77. The company 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. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $496.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $519.84.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MA. Citigroup reduced their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America began coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.