Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,403 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,650 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Mastercard by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $524.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $540.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $467.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: SoFiUSD stablecoin partnership — Mastercard will allow SoFi’s fully reserved U.S. dollar stablecoin to be used for card?based settlements and cross?border/B2B flows, advancing its payments?infrastructure growth thesis and opening new settlement revenue/use cases. SoFi’s stablecoin joins Mastercard’s network
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America buy rating and $700 price target — BofA initiated/reinstated coverage with a bullish call and a materially higher price target, signaling sizable analyst upside expectations versus today’s level (supports momentum in the stock).
• Positive Sentiment: BofA sees card networks as safe sector bets — Bank of America highlights steady transaction growth and broader digital payments adoption, reinforcing a defensive, long?term growth narrative for Visa and Mastercard. BofA sees card networks as safest bets, bullish on Visa & Mastercard
• Positive Sentiment: AI payments pilots and merchant innovation — Successful Singapore trial of autonomous AI agent payments with DBS and UOB and continued work on agentic standards demonstrate product leadership in emerging payment rails and potential new fee streams. Mastercard, DBS and UOB successfully trial autonomous payment by AI agent in Singapore
• Positive Sentiment: Investor presentations / fundamentals — Recent Morgan Stanley presentation and last quarter’s earnings beat (strong EPS and revenue growth) support the view that Mastercard’s core network and value?added services remain durable growth drivers. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Presents at Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/TV commentary — High?profile segments (e.g., Cramer’s “Stop Trading” piece) can add short?term noise but carry limited fundamental weight versus corporate announcements and analyst actions. Cramer’s Stop Trading: Mastercard
• Neutral Sentiment: Card co?branded product reviews — New card launches and reviews (Upromise, Bank of America business card) support network volume but are issuer?driven and typically have marginal near?term impact on MA’s stock. Upromise World Mastercard Review
• Negative Sentiment: AI shopping agent risk — Research flags that AI agents could disintermediate card networks’ role in checkout, creating strategic risk that may pressure long?term margins if not addressed. Are Visa and Mastercard vulnerable to AI shopping agents?
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory challenges — Coverage noting Europe’s push for an independent payment system highlights potential regulatory/competitive headwinds that could limit network expansion or pricing power in key regions. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. HSBC raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

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.