Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $7.20 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 9.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,654 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,247 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. LOM Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.6% in the third quarter. LOM Asset Management Ltd now owns 9,802 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $5,575,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard during the third quarter worth $298,000. M1 Capital Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 8.6% in the third quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC now owns 872 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. increased its stake in Mastercard by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 4,029 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Mastercard by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 102,581 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $58,349,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $670.61.

Mastercard News Roundup

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 Stock Down 0.5%

MA opened at $521.82 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $539.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $557.37. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The stock has a market cap of $465.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. 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 (DPR) is currently 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.