Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,283 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,190 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,760,552 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,062,509,000 after purchasing an additional 542,841 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,421,148 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $7,541,880,000 after purchasing an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,725,317,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Mastercard by 25.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,580,909,000 after buying an additional 1,299,977 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $498.14 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a market capitalization of $444.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $548.26 and a 200-day moving average of $560.64.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. HSBC upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.27.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cybersecurity and SMB push via Cloudflare partnership — Mastercard and Cloudflare announced a strategic tie to build tools for small businesses and strengthen cybersecurity offerings, which could expand Mastercard’s B2B product set and drive new revenue streams. Cloudflare partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with Ericsson to extend digital money movement — Mastercard and Ericsson will integrate platforms to expand mobile financial services in emerging markets (MEA), supporting volume growth and financial‑inclusion use cases. This can strengthen Mastercard Move and cross‑border flows over time. Ericsson partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Open‑finance traction with banks — Mastercard’s open finance API is being used by Truist for its open banking platform, reducing risky credential‑sharing and positioning Mastercard for recurring API and tokenization revenue. This is a concrete commercial win that supports future growth. Truist open finance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Erste Group forecasts increased earnings for Mastercard, providing analyst backing that may underpin investor confidence. Erste Group forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand & inclusion initiatives — Programs teaching seniors to bank digitally and statements about being ready for India’s agentic commerce requirements are positive for brand and regulatory positioning but unlikely to move near‑term fundamentals materially. Senior digital banking program
• Negative Sentiment: Citrini Research “agentic commerce” scenario raises structural risk to interchange economics — A widely circulated thought experiment models AI agents optimizing transactions to avoid 2–3% interchange fees (via stablecoins/low‑fee rails), prompting a sector selloff and renewed investor scrutiny of card economics. That narrative is driving short‑term downside risk to MA as markets price the potential for lower margins if such rails scale. Citrini Research analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Immediate market reaction — The dystopian AI report triggered broad declines in payments and software stocks, signaling that sentiment risk can amplify price moves even before any regulatory or technical shift occurs. Market reaction

Mastercard Company 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.