Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,648 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its Mastercard stake by 4.7% in the first quarter, buying 2,648 additional shares to bring its total to 58,662 shares worth about $29.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Barclays initiated coverage with an overweight rating and a $640 target, while the consensus rating on Mastercard is Buy with an average price target of $653.78.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 beating estimates and revenue of $8.40 billion topping expectations; the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,662 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 2.2% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $29,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Betterment LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $380,548,000 after acquiring an additional 178,387 shares during the period. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $431,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $640.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $653.78.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $526.14 on Monday. 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 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a market cap of $464.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $499.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $517.11.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Mastercard to strong-buy, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and reinforcing confidence in the company’s long-term growth outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a platform designed to enable secure AI-agent and machine-to-machine payments, which could open a new growth avenue in emerging digital commerce. Mastercard (MA) Launches AP4M To Bring AI Agent Payments Onchain
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and VEON announced a partnership to expand financial services across several markets, highlighting continued international expansion and transaction-network growth potential. VEON (VEON), Mastercard (MA) Partner to Expand Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still expect strong fundamentals, and recent commentary emphasized Mastercard’s resilient operations and earnings-growth forecasts, which helped support the stock despite technical weakness.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard will report second-quarter 2026 results on July 30, keeping investors focused on payment-volume trends, margins, and whether growth can justify the valuation. Mastercard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale of 200 shares was disclosed, but it was a small pre-planned transaction under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, so it is not a major signal by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard’s move below its 200-day moving average may be weighing on sentiment, as traders often view that level as a key technical support point.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader concerns around stablecoin competition, regulatory fee pressure, and alternative payment rails could pressure legacy card-network stocks like Mastercard and Visa.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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