First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 142,324 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its Mastercard stake by 16.7% in the first quarter, adding 142,324 shares to bring its total holdings to 992,696 shares worth about $496 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish, with Mastercard carrying a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $653.92. Several analysts recently reiterated or upgraded their views, including a “strong-buy” call from Clear Str.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $4.60 versus $4.41 expected and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 15.8% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share, payable August 7.

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 16.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 992,696 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 142,324 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.11% of Mastercard worth $496,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its position in Mastercard by 8.5% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Betterment LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 6.5% in the second quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 35.8% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter worth approximately $431,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Clear Str raised Mastercard to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $653.92.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $537.33 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $515.35. The company has a market cap of $474.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.73. 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 (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,625,225. This trade represents a 22.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last ninety days. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the first co-badged Jaywan-Mastercard credit card, a new partnership that could expand Mastercard’s footprint in the UAE and support payment-network volume growth. Al Etihad Payments, Mastercard launch world's first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was highlighted as a strong momentum stock, reinforcing the view that the company still has favorable fundamental and trading characteristics despite recent weakness. Here's Why MasterCard (MA) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Lithic introduced a way to make small-business loan proceeds spend-ready, a payments-adjacent product that could deepen Mastercard’s role in SMB finance workflows. Lithic and Mastercard Make SMB Loans Ready to Spend

Mastercard 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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