ING Groep NV Reduces Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• ING Groep NV trimmed its Mastercard stake by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 56,362 shares and ending with 1,284,699 shares valued at about $733.4 million. Mastercard remains ING’s fifth-largest holding and makes up roughly 4.4% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Mastercard, with analysts maintaining a consensus “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $656.04. Recent notes included new buy/outperform coverage from Bank of America and BMO Capital Markets, while Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to hold.
• Mastercard’s latest results beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $4.60 and revenue of $8.40 billion, both ahead of estimates. Revenue rose 15.8% year over year, and the company’s stock was up 2.1% in the latest trading update.

ING Groep NV decreased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,284,699 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 56,362 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 4.4% of ING Groep NV's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. ING Groep NV owned 0.14% of Mastercard worth $733,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Tacita Capital Inc raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MA. Bank of America began coverage on shares of 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. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $605.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mastercard from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Six investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $656.04.

More 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 Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $491.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $434.43 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day moving average of $499.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $525.11. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Mastercard Company 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.

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.