Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its Mastercard stake by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,504 shares and ending with 190,727 shares worth about $108.9 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with major firms like Vanguard, State Street, Norges Bank, and others increasing or initiating positions; overall, 97.28% of Mastercard’s stock is held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Analyst sentiment is still broadly positive: Mastercard has a consensus “Buy” rating with an average target price of $656.04, even though some firms have recently adjusted targets lower or kept negative views.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,727 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 7,504 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for 0.6% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings in Mastercard were worth $108,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $6,705,708,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after buying an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 792.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $494,110,000 after buying an additional 768,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $5,885,944,000 after buying an additional 629,941 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore restated a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $656.04.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s BitLicense approval strengthens its ability to build regulated digital asset, stablecoin, and blockchain-based payment infrastructure, which investors may see as a long-term growth opportunity. Mastercard BitLicense Approval Opens New Chapter In Digital Assets And Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage suggesting Mastercard is well positioned in the stablecoin battle, alongside peers like SoFi, Block, and Robinhood, highlights the company’s relevance in a fast-growing payments trend. How Mastercard, SoFi, Block are heating up the stablecoin battle
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on Mastercard despite recent relative underperformance versus fintech peers, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside in the stock’s fundamentals and franchise strength. How Is Mastercard's Stock Performance Compared to Other FinTech Stocks?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation-focused commentary notes Mastercard has pulled back from recent highs and trades at a premium multiple, which may keep some investors cautious even as the long-term outlook remains constructive. Mastercard (MA) Valuation Check After Recent Pullback And Premium P/E Multiple
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard also announced upcoming investor conference appearances, which is routine corporate communication rather than a major operating update. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

Mastercard Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $494.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $436.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $501.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $527.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $480.50 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. Mastercard's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.