Harvey Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,745 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Harvey Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,695 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,745 shares during the quarter. Harvey Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings 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 worth $41,444,231,000 after acquiring an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after purchasing an additional 349,369 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,046,550 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $9,160,657,000 after purchasing an additional 123,528 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $664.00 to $667.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $631.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $664.71.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA opened at $591.35 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.62. The stock has a market cap of $518.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $547.06 and a 200-day moving average of $519.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its 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 the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.14%.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, insider J. Mehra Sachin sold 7,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares in the company, valued at $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Pistecchia 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 transaction, the insider owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. This represents a 12.07% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,357 shares of company stock valued at $40,637,262. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard has restarted international card-payment services in Syria for the first time in roughly 15 years after regulatory changes, potentially reopening transaction-volume opportunities in the country. Visa is also entering the market, limiting Mastercard’s ability to capture the opportunity exclusively. Visa, Mastercard begin first Syria global card payments in years
• Positive Sentiment: A new partnership with Asia-Pacific travel-experiences platform Klook aims to provide Mastercard cardholders with travel benefits and create additional spending touchpoints as experience-led tourism expands across the region. The initiative could support cross-border payments and customer engagement, although financial terms were not disclosed. Klook and Mastercard collaborate to enhance travelers’ experiences across Asia Pacific
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard said CFO Ling Hai will speak at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10. The presentation may offer updates on growth, travel spending and digital payments, but it does not change current financial guidance. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s name appears as a supporter of a Ripple XRPL hackathon, highlighting continued interest in blockchain development. However, the event is not evidence of a major XRP or XRPL commercial rollout by Mastercard. Mastercard’s Name Is on the Ripple Hackathon, But Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary argues that Mastercard’s strong earnings profile and roughly 61% net margin are already reflected in the stock’s elevated valuation. The shares’ retreat after nearing their high may therefore reflect profit-taking and concern that further gains require continued strong execution. Mastercard’s Record Stalls With 61% Margin Already Priced In

Mastercard 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.