Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Securian Asset Management cut its Mastercard stake by 44.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 17,571 shares and leaving it with 22,296 shares valued at about $12.7 million.
• Mastercard’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $4.60 and revenue of $8.40 billion, both above analyst forecasts. Quarterly revenue also rose 15.8% from a year earlier.
• The stock has been volatile, trading near $495 versus a 52-week high of $601.77, while analysts still broadly remain positive with a Buy consensus and average price target of $657.07.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 44.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,296 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 17,571 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $12,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $45,612,087,000 after acquiring an additional 466,514 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,885,944,000 after acquiring an additional 629,941 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,806,887 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,303,015,000 after acquiring an additional 235,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,658,547 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $3,218,638,000 after acquiring an additional 339,137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $495.39 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $506.14 and a 200 day moving average of $534.56. The company has a market capitalization of $437.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $480.50 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during 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%.Mastercard's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard's payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a regional SME resilience program in the Middle East and North Africa to help small businesses navigate conflict-related trade disruptions, rising energy costs, and logistics strain, which could expand Mastercard’s role in business payments across the region. Mastercard Rallies Partners to Support MENA Small Businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Yellow Card are piloting stablecoin payment use cases in EEMEA, adding to the company’s push into digital asset and next-generation payment infrastructure. Mastercard, Yellow Card to pilot stablecoin payment use cases in EEMEA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised FY2026 and FY2027 earnings estimates for Mastercard, reinforcing expectations for continued earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is being tied to multiple tokenized treasury and stablecoin initiatives with partners like JPMorgan, Ripple, and Ondo, which highlights its growing presence in blockchain-based payments and settlement. Ondo, JPMorgan, Mastercard & Ripple complete cross-border Treasury redemption
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles note that Mastercard is a trending stock and worth watching, but they do not add new fundamentals or catalysts on their own. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is preparing to launch services in Syria after a 15-year hiatus, a potentially incremental market expansion but not an immediate earnings driver. Mastercard prepares to launch services in Syria after 15 years
• Negative Sentiment: Macquarie lowered its price target on Mastercard, and Susquehanna also trimmed its target while noting slower April cross-border travel growth, signaling some caution around near-term volume trends. Here’s Why Macquarie Lowered PT on MasterCard (MA)
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are probing Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal over suspected anti-competitive conduct, which could increase legal and compliance risk for the payments industry. UK probes Mastercard, Visa, PayPal over suspected anti-competitive conduct

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Compass Point raised Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $631.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $657.07.

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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