Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 976,597 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 30,726 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 1.5% of Blair William & Co. IL’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $555,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,594,000 after buying an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,548 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.9% in the second quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.9% in the second quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 3,773 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% during the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,861 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,789,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its partnership with SoFi to enable SoFiUSD stablecoin settlements across Mastercard’s global payments network — a move that could accelerate cross‑border and B2B settlement use cases and support fees from new rails. Mastercard’s Stablecoin Moment: SoFiUSD Gets Global Settlement Rails
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is supportive: Bank of America/other firms have highlighted card networks as defensive growth plays and some firms have raised price targets or maintain Buy ratings, giving upside to valuation expectations. BofA sees card networks as safest bets Mastercard Receives Consensus ‘Buy’
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate / partnership PR — a Mastercard executive was appointed to Delivering Good’s board (non‑financial/CSR news). Useful for reputation but unlikely to move fundamentals. Delivering Good Welcomes Three New Board Members
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry positioning: coverage of Mastercard trialing autonomous payment/AI agents and engaging with standards work — signals ongoing product innovation; timing and monetization remain uncertain. Mastercard, DBS and UOB trial autonomous payment AI agent Visa, Mastercard jockey to set agentic standards
• Negative Sentiment: Risk theme — analysts and stories are raising the prospect that AI shopping agents could reduce the role of card networks in commerce, a structural threat that could pressure long‑term growth assumptions. Are Visa and Mastercard vulnerable to AI shopping agents?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/competitive concern — coverage arguing Europe needs a payments system independent of Visa/Mastercard highlights potential policy/headwinds that could limit market access or pricing power in key regions. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa
• Negative Sentiment: Negative media spotlight — high‑profile commentators have advised caution on trading Mastercard, which can amplify short‑term selling pressure despite underlying fundamentals. Cramer’s Stop Trading: Mastercard

Mastercard Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE MA opened at $521.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $465.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated 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 50-day moving average of $539.50 and a 200-day moving average of $557.57.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released 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 firm had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MA. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

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.