Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Holdings Raised by Sanders Capital LLC

Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,941,951 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 611,592 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.6% of Sanders Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,622,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fundsmith LLP purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth about $639,458,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 147.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 1,682,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $863,969,000 after buying an additional 1,001,671 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 295.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 860,011 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $441,702,000 after buying an additional 642,724 shares in the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $293,574,000. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 2,464,499 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,231,412,000 after buying an additional 575,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MA. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $722.00 to $735.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 target price (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Mastercard from $696.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Mastercard from $674.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $704.62.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total value of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total transaction of $2,774,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,966,872.50. This represents a 10.78% 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 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $15,428,736 over the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: revenue rose 14% year over year to $9.81 billion and adjusted EPS increased 21.2%. Services revenue grew 19%, although higher incentives were flagged as a concern. Mastercard’s 19% Services Growth Steals the Q3 Show: Buy or Hold MA?
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $735 and maintained a Buy rating, signaling potential upside in its view. Truist Financial rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Freedom Broker downgraded MA from Buy to Hold, despite lifting its target to $725. The mixed call may temper enthusiasm after the stock’s recent rally. Freedom Broker rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a key risk: coverage notes the recent rally has outpaced changes in earnings estimates, leaving less room for disappointment. Rising incentives could also weigh on margins. Mastercard Stock Rose 22% in a Month. Here’s What Its Price Now Assumes
• Negative Sentiment: Visa and Mastercard face additional collective claims in the UK over card fees, adding potential legal and financial uncertainty. Visa and Mastercard face additional £5bn collective claims over card fees
• Neutral Sentiment: The CFO sold about $2.77 million of MA shares. The sale may attract attention, but the report provides no context on its purpose. Mastercard CFO stock sale

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA traded down $2.47 on Friday, hitting $653.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,293,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,281,489. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $593.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $539.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99. The company has a market capitalization of $572.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

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 company had revenue of $9.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 260.86% and a net margin of 46.73%. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Mastercard Company Profile

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.