Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires 1,208 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $14,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RAM Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Mastercard by 4.0% during the third quarter. RAM Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,172 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $666,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,499 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,403,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 269,940 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $153,544,000 after purchasing an additional 140,403 shares during the last quarter. Tobias Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Mastercard by 12.2% in the third quarter. Tobias Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,077 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd grew its stake in Mastercard by 2.0% during the third quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd now owns 348,290 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $198,111,000 after buying an additional 6,877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA stock opened at $519.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $554.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $564.88. The firm has a market cap of $466.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.86. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.28% and a return on equity of 202.03%. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a positive change from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.25%.

Key Headlines Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced an AI-powered shopping change rolling out for Commonwealth Bank and Westpac customers in Australia — a first-of-its-kind feature that could boost merchant conversion and consumer engagement in a major market. Mastercard unveils major AI shopping change
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is trialing agent-led payments powered by Australian LLM Maincode, signaling product innovation that could expand service offerings and drive transactional revenue. Aussie LLM Maincode powers Mastercard’s agent-led payments trial
• Positive Sentiment: The company is broadening startup outreach to “agentic” AI firms, which may accelerate partnerships and new product pipelines in advanced AI-driven payments and services. Mastercard expands startup outreach to agentic AI firms
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage is active ahead of Q4 — research roundups and previews highlight expectations for double-digit revenue and EPS growth but caution on stretched valuation. Top Research Reports for Broadcom, Oracle & Mastercard
• Neutral Sentiment: Various analyst notes and education pieces reiterate Mastercard’s long-term growth case while flagging valuation and near-term results as key catalysts to monitor. Is Mastercard Stock a Smart Bet Ahead of Q4 Earnings?
• Negative Sentiment: ZeroHash reportedly walked away from multi-billion-dollar acquisition talks with Mastercard to remain independent, removing a potential strategic bolt-on and drawing attention to deal execution risks. ZeroHash walks away from Mastercard talks
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines and TV commentary (including Jim Cramer) referencing regulatory/PR issues like a “Trump credit card cap” and a modest analyst price‑target trim (Truist lowered its target while keeping a Buy) are contributing to near-term sentiment headwinds. Jim Cramer Discusses Mastercard & Trump Credit Card Cap

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MA. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Mastercard from $669.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $713.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $609.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $660.81.

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.