Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock Acquired by Liberty Capital Management Inc.

Liberty Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,766 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Alta Advisers Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 77.1% in the third quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 5,749 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,170,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 7.1% during the third quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 3.0% during the third quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,973 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,294,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 9.6% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,673 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $51,107,000 after buying an additional 8,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MA. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $632.00 target price (up from $609.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, July 31st. President Capital increased their target price on Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $704.00.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE MA opened at $655.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $574.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $591.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $538.51. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.66 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,607 shares in the company, valued at $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $23,613,851.08. This trade represents a 15.39% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $735 and maintained a Buy rating. Other firms have set targets as high as $765 following Q3, reflecting optimism about Mastercard’s outlook. Truist target increase Analyst price targets after Q3
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain strong: Mastercard reported Q3 revenue of $9.81 billion, up 14% year over year, and EPS of $5.31, beating analyst estimates for both measures. Mastercard earnings and company information
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is participating in firmly’s $15 million funding round for a platform that helps merchants connect with AI agents and other digital commerce channels. The investment aligns with its agentic-commerce strategy, but the near-term financial contribution is uncertain. firmly funding and agentic commerce
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation may be weighing on the stock after its roughly 19% monthly rise to a 52-week high. A recent analysis says much of the rally came from investors assigning a higher earnings multiple, while Wall Street estimates barely changed after the report—raising the risk that expectations have run ahead of forecast growth. Valuation and earnings estimates analysis
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 transaction. Such planned sales are less indicative of a new view on the business, but insider selling can add to near-term caution. CFO share sale details

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.