Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,783 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 1,498 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 2,349 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 28.1% during the third quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,652,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its stake in Mastercard by 0.4% in the third quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 10,724 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,100,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Evercore set a $610.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $707.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Six equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $669.27.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $525.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $472.30 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $551.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $561.70. 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 2.36, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.07%.

Key Stories 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.