Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 15,602 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings trimmed its Mastercard stake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,602 shares but still holding about 1.6 million shares valued at roughly $913 million.
• Mastercard continues to draw mixed but generally positive analyst attention, with firms including Piper Sandler upgrading the stock to strong-buy and the broader Wall Street consensus remaining a Buy with a $653.81 price target.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 and revenue of $8.40 billion, both beating estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share.

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,597,748 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 15,602 shares during the quarter. Mastercard accounts for 0.5% of Hsbc Holdings PLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.18% of Mastercard worth $913,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 250.0% in the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was upgraded by Piper Sandler to strong-buy, signaling improved analyst sentiment and supporting the stock. The Fly report on Piper Sandler upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is being mentioned as part of the new Open USD stablecoin consortium, which could strengthen its position in digital payments and cross-border settlement if adoption grows. Open USD consortium article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced a new cybersecurity centre in Africa, a move that highlights investment in payment security and could support long-term network trust and adoption. Mastercard cybersecurity centre article
• Neutral Sentiment: A commentary piece questioned whether Mastercard trades at a premium valuation despite stablecoin-related developments, but it did not introduce a new fundamental catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate review of a Citi AAdvantage Mastercard credit card is consumer-oriented and not likely to materially affect Mastercard’s earnings outlook. CNBC Citi AAdvantage Globe Mastercard review

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup decreased their price target on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $653.81.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $522.60 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $496.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $519.05. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $461.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.73.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. Analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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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