Mastercard Incorporated $MA Position Reduced by PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators lessened its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 54.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,813 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 65,879 shares during the period. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $30,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $652.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $568.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $598.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $541.70. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $464.52 and a 52 week high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.66 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. Mastercard’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were 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 was Friday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MA. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Mastercard from $730.00 to $764.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Mastercard from $685.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Freedom Broker lowered Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $725.00 in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on Mastercard from $631.00 to $647.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.21.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

These are some of the MA stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its price target on Mastercard to $764 from $730 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, implying 17.1% upside from the cited $652.48 reference price. TickerReport article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is investing in regional growth. The company plans to add more than 250 specialist roles in Singapore by the end of 2029, while a new agreement with Nigeria’s SMEDAN will advance digitization for small businesses. These initiatives may broaden its regional reach, though hiring also entails investment. Straits Times article Daily Post article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard’s Canadian holiday survey found shoppers are emphasizing budgeting and value. That is useful context for consumer spending, but the report does not provide evidence of a change in Mastercard’s payment volumes. Yahoo Finance article

Insider Transactions at Mastercard

In other news, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $641.00, for a total value of $2,767,197.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,915,750. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sachin Mehra sold 3,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.00, for a total value of $1,907,344.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 36,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,403,600. This trade represents a 8.18% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard 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.