Allen Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Allen Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,246 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 2,222 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $18,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Vantus Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at $446,000. Spinnaker Trust raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 7,306 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,171,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,246,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cogent Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating on Mastercard with a $671 price target, citing Q1 results that showed 12% net revenue growth and reinforcing a constructive view on the company’s growth outlook. TD Cowen Reaffirms Buy Rating on Mastercard (MA) After Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard joined a European cross-border instant payments pilot with the central banks of Denmark and Sweden, a move that highlights continued expansion in faster payments and could support long-term transaction growth. Mastercard Joins European Cross-Border Instant Payments Pilot
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard also rolled out new AI-powered fraud and merchant-trust tools, which should help strengthen network security and reduce fraud-related losses over time. Mastercard Tightens Fraud Rules And AI Tools As Share Price Slips
• Neutral Sentiment: Several investor commentary pieces argued Mastercard screens attractively after a year of underperformance, suggesting valuation support but not a near-term catalyst by itself. Visa at $326, Mastercard at $493: Buy, Sell or Hold?
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard was mentioned in a report about Berkshire Hathaway removing the stock from its portfolio, which may create some headline pressure, though the impact on fundamentals appears limited. Another fintech giant gets the pink slip from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $496.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $480.50 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $438.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $501.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $526.96.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $605.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.04.

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.