Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 349,369 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 0.7% of Geode Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $11,773,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,181,341,000 after acquiring an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 792.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $494,110,000 after acquiring an additional 768,514 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,885,944,000 after acquiring an additional 629,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth about $289,353,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard obtained a New York BitLicense, a meaningful regulatory step that could help the company scale its cryptocurrency and stablecoin infrastructure. Mastercard Obtains New York BitLicense for Cryptocurrency Operations
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted the BitLicense win as approval for Mastercard’s digital currency strategy, which may strengthen confidence in future growth from regulated blockchain-based payments. Mastercard wins New York regulatory approval to scale digital currency infrastructure
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard also disclosed it will participate in two investor conferences in June, keeping management visible to investors and offering another forum to discuss strategy and growth initiatives. Mastercard to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Several interviews and commentary pieces featuring Mastercard executives may help maintain investor interest, but they do not appear to include major new financial guidance or operational updates. Mastercard CTO Ed McLaughlin on Firm’s Goal to ‘Set the Stage for the Future’
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles discussed Mastercard as a long-term growth stock and its anniversary as a NYSE-listed company, which are broadly supportive but not likely to move the stock on their own.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Macquarie Infrastructure raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $656.04.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $495.41 on Thursday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $480.50 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $437.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $501.38 and a 200-day moving average of $528.21.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard 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.