65,879 Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators

Key Points

• PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators cut its Mastercard stake by 54.1%, selling 65,879 shares and ending the quarter with 55,813 shares valued at about $30.8 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the stock.
• Mastercard reported quarterly earnings of $5.31 per share, above the $5.17 consensus estimate, while revenue of $9.81 billion beat expectations and rose 14% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of $713.21. Recent views ranged from price-target increases and overweight ratings to a downgrade to hold.

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators decreased its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,813 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 65,879 shares during the period. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators' holdings in Mastercard were worth $30,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Atlatl Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 586 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 513 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Athena Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Freedom Broker lowered Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $620.00 to $725.00 in a report on Thursday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Mastercard from $720.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mastercard from $668.00 to $731.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on Mastercard from $710.00 to $688.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Two research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $713.21.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of MA stock opened at $652.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $598.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $541.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $568.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.38 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the sale, the director owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,559.77. This represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total value of $1,907,344.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 36,650 shares in the company, valued at $21,403,600. The trade was a 8.18% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More Mastercard News

Here's some of the latest news about MA:

• 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

Mastercard Profile

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.

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