Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.

Key Points

• Vestmark Advisory Solutions nearly doubled its Mastercard stake in the fourth quarter, buying 14,390 additional shares to bring its total to 29,621 shares valued at about $16.9 million.
• Mastercard remains heavily owned by institutions, with several large investors such as State Street, Vanguard, and others increasing their positions; overall, 97.28% of the stock is held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Analysts are still broadly positive on the stock: Mastercard has an average Buy rating with a consensus price target of $656, while its latest earnings beat expectations on both EPS and revenue.

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 94.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,621 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,390 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $16,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the third 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. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 792.2% during the fourth 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. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the third 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. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $289,353,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced a partnership with JD.com to expand global payment connectivity and explore agentic AI-powered purchasing solutions, reinforcing its push into next-generation commerce. Mastercard (MA) Partners With JD.com To Build Out Global Payment Connectivity And Explore Agentic AI-Powered Purchasing Solutions
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to win international digital-payments deals, including renewed partnerships and innovation efforts in Egypt and the UAE, which support the company’s growth story outside the U.S.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst-focused and investor-interest articles highlighted Mastercard as a highly profitable stock and one that is still drawing attention, which can help sentiment around the shares.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage comparing Visa and Mastercard suggested Visa may currently have the edge on valuation and balance-sheet strength, which is more of a relative-comparison headwind than a direct negative for Mastercard. Visa vs. Mastercard: Which Fintech Giant Is the Better Bet Now?
• Negative Sentiment: An insider transaction report showed a Mastercard insider reduced their stake by 43%, which can weigh on investor sentiment even if it does not change the underlying business outlook. This Mastercard Insider Reduced Their Stake By 43%

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $656.00.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $499.62 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $501.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $529.74. The stock has a market cap of $441.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm 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 firm's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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