Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 830,162 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 8,819 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.7% of Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Fifth Third Bancorp owned about 0.09% of Mastercard worth $457,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MA. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $18,984,867,000 after buying an additional 486,283 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,559,779,000 after acquiring an additional 480,725 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,111,216,000 after acquiring an additional 42,871 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,763,000 after acquiring an additional 554,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,862,527,000 after acquiring an additional 199,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Mastercard News

These are some of the MA news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is partnering with Sage and Adyen on small-business financial services. Mastercard will provide the card network for Sage business debit cards, while Adyen supplies banking infrastructure for the initial French rollout. Read about the Sage, Adyen and Mastercard partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Other partnerships broaden Mastercard’s business-banking reach, including a BMO commercial card in Canada and Citizens’ treasury-management collaboration using Mastercard technology. Read about Mastercard’s business-banking partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach highlighted cybersecurity threats to financial infrastructure. The comments underscore an ongoing operational risk but did not describe a specific incident or financial impact. Watch the CEO’s cybersecurity comments

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In related news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total transaction of $1,907,344.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 36,650 shares in the company, valued at $21,403,600. This trade represents a 8.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julius Genachowski sold 370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.21, for a total transaction of $218,377.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,861,559.77. This represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. President Capital lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Mastercard from $700.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $713.21.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $660.63 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $681.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $597.33 and a 200-day moving average of $541.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $575.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.