ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Trims Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. lessened its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,570 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 5,379 shares during the quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $25,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth $1,113,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $130,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,795 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Mastercard by 396.3% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 46,145 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,343,000 after acquiring an additional 36,848 shares during the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $1,328,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 65,414 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $37,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to attract investor interest as a trending stock, which can support shares by keeping attention on the company’s earnings and growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard highlighted new travel-focused offerings, including its “Priceless Africa” experience, reinforcing its strategy to deepen consumer engagement and build higher-value travel spending across its network. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and MarginEdge launched a commercial charge card for restaurants, a small but potentially useful expansion of Mastercard’s commercial payments footprint. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary continues to frame Mastercard as a premium payments company tied to international expansion, but some articles also argue the stock remains expensive and has lagged over longer periods, which could temper enthusiasm. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional pieces focused on broad “what to know” coverage and consumer trends, but did not report a major new catalyst that would materially change Mastercard’s near-term fundamentals. Article Title

Mastercard Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $499.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $441.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $496.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $519.84. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $464.52 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 20.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MA. BNP Paribas Exane raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.08.

About Mastercard

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.