LGT Group Foundation Sells 17,307 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

LGT Group Foundation reduced its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 498,599 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 17,307 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 3.3% of LGT Group Foundation’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. LGT Group Foundation owned approximately 0.06% of Mastercard worth $286,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Mastercard by 25.6% in 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 lifted its position in Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after acquiring an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MA opened at $521.82 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $539.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $557.13. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $465.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its partnership with SoFi to enable SoFiUSD stablecoin settlements across Mastercard’s global payments network — a move that could accelerate cross?border and B2B settlement use cases and support fees from new rails. Mastercard’s Stablecoin Moment: SoFiUSD Gets Global Settlement Rails
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is supportive: Bank of America/other firms have highlighted card networks as defensive growth plays and some firms have raised price targets or maintain Buy ratings, giving upside to valuation expectations. BofA sees card networks as safest bets Mastercard Receives Consensus ‘Buy’
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate / partnership PR — a Mastercard executive was appointed to Delivering Good’s board (non?financial/CSR news). Useful for reputation but unlikely to move fundamentals. Delivering Good Welcomes Three New Board Members
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry positioning: coverage of Mastercard trialing autonomous payment/AI agents and engaging with standards work — signals ongoing product innovation; timing and monetization remain uncertain. Mastercard, DBS and UOB trial autonomous payment AI agent Visa, Mastercard jockey to set agentic standards
• Negative Sentiment: Risk theme — analysts and stories are raising the prospect that AI shopping agents could reduce the role of card networks in commerce, a structural threat that could pressure long?term growth assumptions. Are Visa and Mastercard vulnerable to AI shopping agents?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/competitive concern — coverage arguing Europe needs a payments system independent of Visa/Mastercard highlights potential policy/headwinds that could limit market access or pricing power in key regions. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa
• Negative Sentiment: Negative media spotlight — high?profile commentators have advised caution on trading Mastercard, which can amplify short?term selling pressure despite underlying fundamentals. Cramer’s Stop Trading: Mastercard

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MA. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

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.