Erste Group Bank Forecasts Increased Earnings for Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) – Analysts at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Mastercard in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the credit services provider will post earnings of $19.58 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $19.55. The consensus estimate for Mastercard’s current full-year earnings is $15.91 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Mastercard’s FY2027 earnings at $22.63 EPS.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 target price on Mastercard in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Compass Point upgraded Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.27.

Mastercard Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE MA opened at $525.94 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $551.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $561.64. Mastercard has a 12 month low of $465.59 and a 12 month high of $601.77. 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 company has a market capitalization of $469.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 17,636 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,910,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VestGen Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

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 given a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.07%.

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

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.