Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Acquired by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC increased its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 147,613 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,527 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.7% of Prudential PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $84,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mastercard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,705,708,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after buying an additional 997,536 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after buying an additional 955,533 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Mastercard by 792.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $494,110,000 after buying an additional 768,514 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,885,944,000 after buying an additional 629,941 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its settlement network to support stablecoins and more continuous transaction processing, which could improve long-term payment volume and keep the company competitive as crypto-based rails gain traction.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Mastercard may participate in a shared stablecoin platform with Stripe, Visa, and Coinbase point to new partnership-driven growth opportunities and broader adoption of Mastercard’s payment infrastructure.
• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital reiterated a buy rating and raised its price target to $631, signaling Wall Street confidence in Mastercard’s earnings power and upside potential.

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock opened at $481.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $425.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $500.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $525.34. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $464.52 and a fifty-two 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MA shares. 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 on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $650.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial set a $609.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.04.

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.