Waddell & Associates LLC Makes New $688,000 Investment in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Waddell & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $688,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 target price on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $669.27.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is staffing up for stablecoins and DeFi (hiring a Director of Crypto Flows), signalling management is pushing into new rails and card-stablecoin integrations that could create new revenue streams. Mastercard Is Staffing Up for Stablecoins and DeFi — Here’s What That Means
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships that extend reach: Mastercard and Ericsson are collaborating to integrate payments capabilities in the Middle East & Africa (Mastercard Move + Ericsson Fintech), and Mastercard is partnering with Cloudflare and banks (Truist) to expand open finance tools and SMB payment solutions — these can support revenue growth outside core interchange. Mastercard, Ericsson craft payment tools
• Positive Sentiment: Incremental acceptance wins (e.g., public transit fare acceptance) broaden everyday use cases and deepen network utility. Mastercard users can pay bus fares
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is divesting its SessionM loyalty business to Capillary Technologies for $20 million — a small, non-core asset sale that raises cash but is unlikely to materially move revenue or margins. Capillary Technologies acquires SessionM from Mastercard for $20 million
• Negative Sentiment: Citrini Research’s scenario analysis argues AI agents and low-fee stablecoin rails could bypass interchange, presenting an existential threat to card economics; that report has triggered sector selling and negative attention on MA. Mastercard In Crosshairs: Citrini Models AI Agents Bypassing Interchange As Stablecoins Threaten Card Economics
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: the Citrini/dystopian AI narrative has pressured payments and software stocks (including Visa/MA/AmEx), amplifying short-term volatility and selling pressure. Dystopian AI report sinks payment and software stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive risk from new European payment apps aiming to challenge Visa/Mastercard in retail payments could pressure fees/volume in specific corridors over time. European payment app targets Visa, Mastercard dominance with retail payments push

Mastercard Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE MA opened at $498.14 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a one year low of $465.59 and a one year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $548.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $560.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $444.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.