Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,481 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,205 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $27,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Mastercard by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its stake 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. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 841 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 1,817 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Mastercard by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,091 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MA. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 target price on Mastercard and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently 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: Strategic cybersecurity partnership with Cloudflare positions Mastercard to sell security tools to small businesses and strengthen transaction security — a potential new revenue stream and cross‑sell opportunity that supports longer‑term growth. Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) and Mastercard Incorporated Announce Strategic Cybersecurity Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is tapping telecom partners to reach ~120 million potential customers — a distribution play that can grow prepaid and mobile-first payment penetration in emerging markets. Mastercard Taps Telecoms for 120M Potential Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Local rollout wins: Mastercard enabled Google Pay for cardholders in Saudi Arabia and partnered with Grameenphone in Bangladesh — both moves expand tap‑to‑pay and digital wallet adoption in growth markets. Mastercard enables Google Pay for cardholders in Saudi Arabia
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation: Mastercard highlights a move toward “agentic AI” — shifting from recommendation to automated action — which could improve fraud prevention, merchant solutions, and customer experiences over time. “We Are Moving From AI Systems That Recommend to That Act”: Mastercard on Agentic AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces reinforce Mastercard’s long-term performance narrative (e.g., 10‑year return retrospectives and momentum stock write‑ups) — useful for sentiment but low immediate impact on fundamentals. $1000 Invested In Mastercard 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth This Much Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional reporting explains how Mastercard and Cloudflare will fight cyber threats — supports the partnership narrative but is incremental to the main announcement. How are Mastercard and Cloudfare Fighting Cyber Threats?
• Negative Sentiment: Critical analysis in the Financial Times argues the UK has become overly dependent on Mastercard, highlighting regulatory and political scrutiny risks that could translate into higher compliance costs or policy headwinds. How the UK accidentally shackled itself to Mastercard

Mastercard Stock Up 1.1%

MA stock opened at $525.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $551.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $561.70. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $472.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.