Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $27.65 Million Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,607 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,808 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $27,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $7,541,880,000 after buying an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,475,807 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $44,098,695,000 after acquiring an additional 931,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded MA to a “strong-buy,” which supports near-term buying interest and lifts sentiment among institutional investors. Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis projects 13%–16.5% annual EPS growth through 2028 and estimates a fair value near $616, highlighting durable margin profile and long-term transaction growth that justify premium multiples. Mastercard: Just Keep Swiping
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding agentic AI products and partnerships (banking/retail automation and an agent-led payments trial), which could drive new revenue streams and product differentiation over time. Mastercard Launches Agentic AI Suite
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage (Zacks, Yahoo/Zacks analyst blog) is keeping MA in focus ahead of its quarterly report — expectations point to double-digit revenue and EPS growth but also note a stretched valuation. Is Mastercard Stock a Smart Bet Ahead of Q4?
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple outlets note Mastercard’s high institutional ownership and strong profitability metrics — positive fundamentals but they also underpin the stock’s premium multiple and sensitivity to growth misses. Head-To-Head Analysis: Mastercard & Ryvyl
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive risk: Capital One’s acquisition activity (Brex) and broader bank consolidation/fintech push are cited as potential long-term competitive threats to card processors’ margins and volumes. Investors may price in this risk alongside premium valuation. Capital One Stock Weak After Earnings, Brex Deal in Focus

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MA shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $665.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $685.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $661.70.

Mastercard Stock Performance

NYSE:MA opened at $521.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $468.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $554.28 and a 200-day moving average of $564.58.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.25%.

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.