Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Grows Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,223 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,821 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 0.7% of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $21,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MA. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in Mastercard by 8.5% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 16.0% in the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,237 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter worth about $242,000. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 33.4% during the 2nd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $509.86 on Thursday. 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 $454.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $547.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.82 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MA shares. Compass Point raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.27.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its reach in Africa by partnering with a Tanzanian firm to accelerate digital-payments adoption, supporting regional volume growth and network expansion. Mastercard, Tananian firm partner to fast-track the transformation of digital payment
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is moving into transit payments (users can pay bus fares), a practical payments use case that can increase transactions and deepen merchant/consumer engagement. Mastercard users can pay bus fares
• Positive Sentiment: Reports note Mastercard is hiring for crypto/stablecoin and DeFi roles (e.g., Director of Crypto Flows), signaling continued investment in digital-asset rails that could open new fee pools and product offerings. Mastercard Is Staffing Up for Stablecoins and DeFi — Here’s What That Means
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is selling its loyalty business, SessionM, to Capillary Technologies for $20 million — a small divestiture that trims non-core assets but is unlikely to move material revenue metrics. Capillary Technologies acquires SessionM from Mastercard for $20 million
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks highlights that Mastercard is a heavily searched stock — increased attention can boost liquidity and short-term volatility but does not itself change fundamentals. Investors Heavily Search Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Here is What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Research firm Citrini warns that “agentic commerce” and AI-driven commerce models could disrupt card networks over time — a thematic risk that, if realized, would pressure long-term transaction volumes and margins. Visa, Mastercard, AmEx could be gutted by AI ‘agentic commerce’ threat, Citrini Research warns — but retail traders unfazed by selloff
• Negative Sentiment: European payment apps are pushing into retail payments to challenge Visa/Mastercard dominance in local markets — increased competition could pressure fee growth in certain regions. European payment app targets Visa, Mastercard dominance with retail payments push

About Mastercard

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.