Fiera Capital Corp Decreases Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Fiera Capital Corp trimmed its Mastercard stake by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 48,140 shares while still holding 1,690,498 shares valued at about $965.1 million. Mastercard remains a major holding, making up roughly 3.1% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Institutional ownership in Mastercard remains very high, with several large investors such as Norges Bank, Vanguard, State Street, and Capital International Investors increasing or establishing positions. Overall, institutions own 97.28% of the company’s stock.
• Wall Street remains bullish on Mastercard after the company beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.60 EPS on $8.40 billion in revenue. Analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Buy,” with an average target price of $656.04.

Fiera Capital Corp decreased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,690,498 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 48,140 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up about 3.1% of Fiera Capital Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned about 0.19% of Mastercard worth $965,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $6,705,708,000. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 768,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $656.04.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s CEO said spending growth has been holding up across all income bands, suggesting consumers remain resilient despite higher gas and food prices. That supports the outlook for payment volume and transaction growth. Mastercard CEO: Spending growth has been happening across all income bands
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its open finance ecosystem through a partnership with PaidBy, adding cross-border open banking payments, local-currency account-to-account transactions, and faster settlement. Can Mastercard Strengthen Its Open Finance Ecosystem With PaidBy?
• Positive Sentiment: News that Mastercard is adding stablecoins and broader settlement windows points to continued innovation in payments infrastructure, which could help the company capture more transaction flows and improve settlement efficiency. Mastercard adds stablecoins to payment settlement system
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s leadership shake-up and AI-focused initiatives suggest management is trying to accelerate fintech growth and modernize the business, which investors may view as supportive of long-term expansion. Mastercard Leadership Shake-Up to Drive Fintech Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Mastercard’s strong value-added services and high-return business model, but this is more of a long-term valuation argument than a direct near-term catalyst. Mastercard: Advanced DuPont Analysis Reveals Value-Added Services Are Built To Skyrocket The Share Price
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard transactions in Cuba are set to be suspended, a reminder that geopolitical and sanctions-related issues can still disrupt some transaction volumes, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard transactions in Cuba to be suspended, central bank says

Mastercard Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE MA opened at $491.67 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $434.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The business's fifty day moving average is $499.81 and its 200 day moving average is $525.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

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

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