Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Key Points

• Adams Diversified Equity Fund cut its Mastercard stake by 24% in the first quarter, selling 11,100 shares and leaving it with 35,062 shares valued at about $17.5 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors still holding 97.28% of Mastercard shares, even as a few firms made small increases or decreases in their positions.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Mastercard: the stock has an average Buy rating and a consensus target price of about $656.08, while the company also beat earnings and revenue estimates in its latest quarterly report.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. reduced its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 24.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,062 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 11,100 shares during the period. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $17,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 20.0% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 108 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,939 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 590 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 479 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MA. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given 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, Mastercard presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $656.08.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.2%

MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $496.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $519.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company has a market cap of $441.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

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

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

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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