Mastercard Incorporated $MA is Dearborn Partners LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,392 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 1.9% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $40,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% in the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% during the third quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 45.2% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1%

MA stock opened at $525.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.30 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $551.10 and a 200-day moving average of $561.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.07%.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cybersecurity partnership with Cloudflare positions Mastercard to sell security tools to small businesses and strengthen transaction security — a potential new revenue stream and cross?sell opportunity that supports longer?term growth. Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) and Mastercard Incorporated Announce Strategic Cybersecurity Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is tapping telecom partners to reach ~120 million potential customers — a distribution play that can grow prepaid and mobile-first payment penetration in emerging markets. Mastercard Taps Telecoms for 120M Potential Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Local rollout wins: Mastercard enabled Google Pay for cardholders in Saudi Arabia and partnered with Grameenphone in Bangladesh — both moves expand tap?to?pay and digital wallet adoption in growth markets. Mastercard enables Google Pay for cardholders in Saudi Arabia
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation: Mastercard highlights a move toward “agentic AI” — shifting from recommendation to automated action — which could improve fraud prevention, merchant solutions, and customer experiences over time. “We Are Moving From AI Systems That Recommend to That Act”: Mastercard on Agentic AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces reinforce Mastercard’s long-term performance narrative (e.g., 10?year return retrospectives and momentum stock write?ups) — useful for sentiment but low immediate impact on fundamentals. $1000 Invested In Mastercard 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth This Much Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional reporting explains how Mastercard and Cloudflare will fight cyber threats — supports the partnership narrative but is incremental to the main announcement. How are Mastercard and Cloudfare Fighting Cyber Threats?
• Negative Sentiment: Critical analysis in the Financial Times argues the UK has become overly dependent on Mastercard, highlighting regulatory and political scrutiny risks that could translate into higher compliance costs or policy headwinds. How the UK accidentally shackled itself to Mastercard

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.27.

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.