Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Increased by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 14.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,076 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,114 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $12,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $11,773,153,000 after buying an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Mastercard by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $10,256,368,000 after buying an additional 759,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $9,160,657,000 after acquiring an additional 123,528 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,781,695.49. This trade represents a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock worth $40,637,262. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MA. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $632.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $629.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $664.71.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard has restarted international card-payment services in Syria for the first time in roughly 15 years after regulatory changes, potentially reopening transaction-volume opportunities in the country. Visa is also entering the market, limiting Mastercard’s ability to capture the opportunity exclusively. Visa, Mastercard begin first Syria global card payments in years
• Positive Sentiment: A new partnership with Asia-Pacific travel-experiences platform Klook aims to provide Mastercard cardholders with travel benefits and create additional spending touchpoints as experience-led tourism expands across the region. The initiative could support cross-border payments and customer engagement, although financial terms were not disclosed. Klook and Mastercard collaborate to enhance travelers' experiences across Asia Pacific
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard said CFO Ling Hai will speak at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10. The presentation may offer updates on growth, travel spending and digital payments, but it does not change current financial guidance. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s name appears as a supporter of a Ripple XRPL hackathon, highlighting continued interest in blockchain development. However, the event is not evidence of a major XRP or XRPL commercial rollout by Mastercard. Mastercard’s Name Is on the Ripple Hackathon, But Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary argues that Mastercard’s strong earnings profile and roughly 61% net margin are already reflected in the stock’s elevated valuation. The shares’ retreat after nearing their high may therefore reflect profit-taking and concern that further gains require continued strong execution. Mastercard's Record Stalls With 61% Margin Already Priced In

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $591.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $464.52 and a one year high of $601.62. The stock's fifty day moving average is $547.06 and its 200-day moving average is $519.09.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's payout ratio is 19.14%.

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.

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