Explore Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Explore Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 24,000 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,701,000. Mastercard accounts for approximately 11.4% of Explore Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vulcan Value Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $265,233,000 after buying an additional 28,331 shares in the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $130,902,000 after purchasing an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. Longbow Finance SA increased its holdings in Mastercard by 50.3% in the 3rd quarter. Longbow Finance SA now owns 23,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $13,090,000 after purchasing an additional 7,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 396.3% in the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,343,000 after purchasing an additional 36,848 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $679.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its settlement network to support stablecoins and more continuous transaction processing, which could improve long-term payment volume and keep the company competitive as crypto-based rails gain traction.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Mastercard may participate in a shared stablecoin platform with Stripe, Visa, and Coinbase point to new partnership-driven growth opportunities and broader adoption of Mastercard’s payment infrastructure.
• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital reiterated a buy rating and raised its price target to $631, signaling Wall Street confidence in Mastercard’s earnings power and upside potential.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of MA stock opened at $481.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $425.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $500.03 and a 200-day moving average of $525.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.73 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Company 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.