Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stake Lessened by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Key Points

• Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA cut its Mastercard stake by 47.2% in the first quarter, selling 55,654 shares and leaving it with 62,232 shares valued at about $31.1 million.
• Despite that trimming, Mastercard still has extremely strong institutional backing, with 97.28% of shares held by institutional investors and several firms recently adding large positions.
• Mastercard recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.60 and revenue of $8.40 billion, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share.

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA cut its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 47.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,232 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 55,654 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in Mastercard were worth $31,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter worth about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in Mastercard by 861.6% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $2,324,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $497,311,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $656.08.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.2%

NYSE:MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $496.99 and a 200-day moving average of $519.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $441.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.73 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

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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