Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stake Decreased by Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 38.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 231,677 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 143,442 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 2.2% of Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $115,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Mastercard by 53,535.0% during the fourth 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 purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% in the 4th 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 position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $497,311,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA opened at $537.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $505.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $515.35. The firm has a market cap of $474.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.14%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares in the company, valued at $8,702,934.17. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. This represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $597.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.92.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the first co-badged Jaywan-Mastercard credit card, a new partnership that could expand Mastercard’s footprint in the UAE and support payment-network volume growth. Al Etihad Payments, Mastercard launch world’s first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was highlighted as a strong momentum stock, reinforcing the view that the company still has favorable fundamental and trading characteristics despite recent weakness. Here’s Why MasterCard (MA) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Lithic introduced a way to make small-business loan proceeds spend-ready, a payments-adjacent product that could deepen Mastercard’s role in SMB finance workflows. Lithic and Mastercard Make SMB Loans Ready to Spend

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.