Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Purchased by WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST

Key Points

• WELLCOME TRUST increased its Mastercard stake by 12.6% in the first quarter, buying 75,000 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 670,000 shares worth about $334.8 million.
• Mastercard reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 topping estimates and revenue rising 15.8% year over year to $8.40 billion. The company also posted a high net margin and return on equity, signaling solid profitability.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $656.08. Mastercard also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share, payable on August 7.

WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 12.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 670,000 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 4.1% of WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST owned approximately 0.08% of Mastercard worth $334,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Mastercard by 820.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% during the 4th 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 period. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to attract investor interest as a trending stock, which can support shares by keeping attention on the company’s earnings and growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted new travel-focused offerings, including its “Priceless Africa” experience, reinforcing its strategy to deepen consumer engagement and build higher-value travel spending across its network. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and MarginEdge launched a commercial charge card for restaurants, a small but potentially useful expansion of Mastercard’s commercial payments footprint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary continues to frame Mastercard as a premium payments company tied to international expansion, but some articles also argue the stock remains expensive and has lagged over longer periods, which could temper enthusiasm. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional pieces focused on broad “what to know” coverage and consumer trends, but did not report a major new catalyst that would materially change Mastercard’s near-term fundamentals. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Evercore reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday. Six 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $656.08.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of MA stock opened at $499.71 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $441.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $496.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $519.84. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.73 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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