Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Purchased by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,520 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $6,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atlatl Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC now owns 586 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.9% in the third quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.8% in the second quarter. Athena Wealth Management LLC now owns 514 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Novem Group raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% in the second quarter. Novem Group now owns 4,680 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 444 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard partnered with Tech Mahindra to embed virtual cards and payment capabilities into ERP and procurement platforms. The initiative could expand Mastercard’s business-to-business payments volume, improve spend controls and support value-added-services revenue. Tech Mahindra and Mastercard partnership
• Positive Sentiment: The company is expanding its First-Party Trust program across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to reduce “friendly fraud” and payment disputes. Broader fraud-prevention and chargeback tools may strengthen merchant relationships and create additional services revenue. Mastercard EMEA fraud program
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a creator-focused card initiative with MrBeast’s Beast Industries, potentially supporting new co-branded card programs, consumer engagement and creator-economy payment products. Mastercard creator card project
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is being positioned to benefit from long-term digital-payments growth, AI-agent commerce, tokenization and expanded payment-security applications. A financing platform with FCMB could also broaden financial access for Nigerian farmers. Mastercard and AI-agent commerce
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts expect Visa and Mastercard to meet or beat quarterly estimates, with investors focused on payment volume, cross-border growth, value-added services and management’s outlook. The positive expectations raise the bar for MA’s October 29 report. Visa and Mastercard earnings outlook
• Negative Sentiment: With Mastercard trading at roughly 34 times earnings and near its annual high, investors may be locking in gains or reducing exposure before earnings. Any disappointment in key metrics or guidance could pressure the stock despite favorable long-term fundamentals. Mastercard third-quarter earnings risks

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $642.00 to $696.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $655.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $713.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Clear Str raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $683.94.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $614.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $538.21 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $633.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $581.69 and its 200-day moving average is $535.08.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.14%.

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total transaction of $2,440,926.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total value of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,806,033.28. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 72,676 shares of company stock valued at $41,966,586. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.