WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 3,431 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd cut its Mastercard stake by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,431 shares and leaving it with 15,269 shares worth about $8.7 million.
• Despite that sale, Mastercard remains heavily held by institutions, with 97.28% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Mastercard reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $4.60 on revenue of $8.40 billion, while analysts still rate the stock a consensus Buy with an average price target of $656.04.

WINTON GROUP Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,269 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 3,431 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd's holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $1,432,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Betterment LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Betterment LLC now owns 947 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 677,204 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $380,548,000 after buying an additional 178,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $431,000. 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’s CEO said spending growth has been holding up across all income bands, suggesting consumers remain resilient despite higher gas and food prices. That supports the outlook for payment volume and transaction growth. Mastercard CEO: Spending growth has been happening across all income bands
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its open finance ecosystem through a partnership with PaidBy, adding cross-border open banking payments, local-currency account-to-account transactions, and faster settlement. Can Mastercard Strengthen Its Open Finance Ecosystem With PaidBy?
• Positive Sentiment: News that Mastercard is adding stablecoins and broader settlement windows points to continued innovation in payments infrastructure, which could help the company capture more transaction flows and improve settlement efficiency. Mastercard adds stablecoins to payment settlement system
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s leadership shake-up and AI-focused initiatives suggest management is trying to accelerate fintech growth and modernize the business, which investors may view as supportive of long-term expansion. Mastercard Leadership Shake-Up to Drive Fintech Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Mastercard’s strong value-added services and high-return business model, but this is more of a long-term valuation argument than a direct near-term catalyst. Mastercard: Advanced DuPont Analysis Reveals Value-Added Services Are Built To Skyrocket The Share Price
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard transactions in Cuba are set to be suspended, a reminder that geopolitical and sanctions-related issues can still disrupt some transaction volumes, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard transactions in Cuba to be suspended, central bank says

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Six equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $656.04.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $491.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $434.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.74. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $601.77. 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 $499.81 and a 200 day moving average of $525.11.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS 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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