Mastercard Incorporated $MA Holdings Reduced by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. reduced its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,403 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 3,650 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,725,317,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 25.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 542,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: SoFiUSD stablecoin partnership — Mastercard will allow SoFi’s fully reserved U.S. dollar stablecoin to be used for card‑based settlements and cross‑border/B2B flows, advancing its payments‑infrastructure growth thesis and opening new settlement revenue/use cases. SoFi’s stablecoin joins Mastercard’s network
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America buy rating and $700 price target — BofA initiated/reinstated coverage with a bullish call and a materially higher price target, signaling sizable analyst upside expectations versus today’s level (supports momentum in the stock).
• Positive Sentiment: BofA sees card networks as safe sector bets — Bank of America highlights steady transaction growth and broader digital payments adoption, reinforcing a defensive, long‑term growth narrative for Visa and Mastercard. BofA sees card networks as safest bets, bullish on Visa & Mastercard
• Positive Sentiment: AI payments pilots and merchant innovation — Successful Singapore trial of autonomous AI agent payments with DBS and UOB and continued work on agentic standards demonstrate product leadership in emerging payment rails and potential new fee streams. Mastercard, DBS and UOB successfully trial autonomous payment by AI agent in Singapore
• Positive Sentiment: Investor presentations / fundamentals — Recent Morgan Stanley presentation and last quarter’s earnings beat (strong EPS and revenue growth) support the view that Mastercard’s core network and value‑added services remain durable growth drivers. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Presents at Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/TV commentary — High‑profile segments (e.g., Cramer’s “Stop Trading” piece) can add short‑term noise but carry limited fundamental weight versus corporate announcements and analyst actions. Cramer’s Stop Trading: Mastercard
• Neutral Sentiment: Card co‑branded product reviews — New card launches and reviews (Upromise, Bank of America business card) support network volume but are issuer‑driven and typically have marginal near‑term impact on MA’s stock. Upromise World Mastercard Review
• Negative Sentiment: AI shopping agent risk — Research flags that AI agents could disintermediate card networks’ role in checkout, creating strategic risk that may pressure long‑term margins if not addressed. Are Visa and Mastercard vulnerable to AI shopping agents?
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory challenges — Coverage noting Europe’s push for an independent payment system highlights potential regulatory/competitive headwinds that could limit network expansion or pricing power in key regions. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Truist Financial set a $611.00 target price on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Dbs Bank upgraded Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $656.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $670.61.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $524.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $467.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $540.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $558.01. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. Equities research analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

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.