Forsta AP Fonden Sells 3,420 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its Mastercard stake by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,420 shares and leaving it with 252,923 shares worth about $144.4 million. Mastercard remains one of the fund’s larger holdings, representing roughly 0.9% of its portfolio.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with large investors such as Norges Bank, Vanguard, State Street, and Assenagon Asset Management increasing their positions in the company. Institutions now own 97.28% of Mastercard’s stock.
• Mastercard continues to draw positive attention from analysts and headlines tied to digital assets and stablecoins, even though the stock has recently pulled back from highs and trades at a premium valuation. The company also recently beat earnings and revenue estimates for the quarter.

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 252,923 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,420 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.9% of Forsta AP Fonden's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Mastercard were worth $144,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,705,708,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $45,181,341,000 after buying an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 792.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $494,110,000 after buying an additional 768,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,885,944,000 after buying an additional 629,941 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

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%

Mastercard stock opened at $494.45 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $480.50 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $436.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $501.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $527.57.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.73 EPS. Mastercard's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $656.04.

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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