Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC Takes $876,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,535 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $876,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 820.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birchbrook Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of MA stock opened at $491.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $499.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $525.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $434.43 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.74.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $656.04.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s CEO said spending growth has been holding up across all income bands, suggesting consumers remain resilient despite higher gas and food prices. That supports the outlook for payment volume and transaction growth. Mastercard CEO: Spending growth has been happening across all income bands
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its open finance ecosystem through a partnership with PaidBy, adding cross-border open banking payments, local-currency account-to-account transactions, and faster settlement. Can Mastercard Strengthen Its Open Finance Ecosystem With PaidBy?
• Positive Sentiment: News that Mastercard is adding stablecoins and broader settlement windows points to continued innovation in payments infrastructure, which could help the company capture more transaction flows and improve settlement efficiency. Mastercard adds stablecoins to payment settlement system
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard’s leadership shake-up and AI-focused initiatives suggest management is trying to accelerate fintech growth and modernize the business, which investors may view as supportive of long-term expansion. Mastercard Leadership Shake-Up to Drive Fintech Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Mastercard’s strong value-added services and high-return business model, but this is more of a long-term valuation argument than a direct near-term catalyst. Mastercard: Advanced DuPont Analysis Reveals Value-Added Services Are Built To Skyrocket The Share Price
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard transactions in Cuba are set to be suspended, a reminder that geopolitical and sanctions-related issues can still disrupt some transaction volumes, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard transactions in Cuba to be suspended, central bank says

Mastercard Company 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.