Waycross Partners LLC Acquires 10,266 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Waycross Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,962 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,266 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up 3.3% of Waycross Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Waycross Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $39,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,918 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 159,590 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $89,677,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 350.8% in the 2nd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 129,329 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $72,643,000 after acquiring an additional 100,640 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding merchant acceptance and digital payments infrastructure across Africa, supporting long?term volume growth and cross?border transaction opportunities. Mastercard is driving digital economy growth in Africa by boosting acceptance network
• Neutral Sentiment: Executive commentary highlights investment in digital trust and cybersecurity—an operational positive for enterprise customers but unlikely to move near?term revenue materially. In the next frontier of technology, digital trust is the new foundation
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple outlets report Mastercard has hired bankers to explore selling the Nets real?time payments unit it acquired for ~$3.2B in 2019. Investors fear this could signal a strategic retreat from European instant?payments infrastructure, create execution uncertainty, and weigh on growth expectations even if the sale would raise cash or refocus capital. Mastercard looks to unwind biggest ever acquisition Mastercard explores sale of payments unit it bought from Nets in 2019, FT reports Mastercard Explores Divestiture of Nets Real-Time Payments Unit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: the FTC has warned major payment processors, including Mastercard, against politically or religiously motivated “debanking”—adding compliance and reputational risk that could invite scrutiny or operational constraints. FTC Issues Warnings to Payment Processors Against ‘Debanking’
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure in Europe: the European Payments Initiative (Wero) is gaining momentum as banks seek alternatives to U.S. card rails—this poses a medium?term threat to transaction volumes in key markets. European Payments Initiative CEO says Trump fears are boosting its appeal
• Negative Sentiment: Peer moves (e.g., American Express pushing AI and new cash?back offerings) increase product competition for customer wallet share and merchant relationships. American Express Bets Big on AI, Cash Back in 2026 Push

Mastercard Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $483.92 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $519.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $548.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $465.59 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MA. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $667.88.

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.