Akre Capital Management LLC Has $1.79 Billion Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Akre Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,155,594 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 139,692 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for about 17.9% of Akre Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Akre Capital Management LLC owned 0.35% of Mastercard worth $1,794,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,397,168 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the second quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,885,944,000 after buying an additional 629,941 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,299,977 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a global Crypto Partner Program with ~85 crypto and payments firms (Binance, Circle, PayPal, Gemini, etc.), aiming to connect on‑chain assets to its card network—this accelerates potential new transaction volume and positioning in digital assets. Mastercard launches crypto partner program with 85 companies to reshape global payments
• Positive Sentiment: MA introduced a Virtual C‑Suite starting with an AI‑powered Virtual CFO for small businesses, a product that could drive subscription or platform revenue and deepen merchant/client data monetization. Mastercard’s Virtual C-Suite Brings AI-Powered CFO to Small Firms
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with Ericsson aims to simplify global digital money movement for telcos, fintechs and banks—helpful for scaling access in underbanked markets and expanding transaction rails. Ericsson and Mastercard Enhance Global Digital Money Movement and Accelerate Digital Financial Inclusion
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard rolled out the Mastercard Global Commerce Suite for Small Businesses in APAC to simplify cross‑border payments for SMEs—could increase transaction volumes among growing merchants. Mastercard Simplifies Cross-Border Payments for Asia Pacific SMEs
• Positive Sentiment: Brazilian fintech Barte selected Mastercard’s risk intelligence via Oscilar for fraud and compliance—an example of banks/fintechs adopting Mastercard services beyond core processing. Barte Selects Oscilar’s AI-Native Risk Decisioning Platform to Transform Fraud and Compliance Operations
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and “trending stock” pieces (Zacks/Yahoo) are driving investor attention; they summarize fundamentals and analyst expectations but contain no new company disclosures. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative analysis pieces (e.g., Visa vs Mastercard) may influence flows by arguing relative valuation or growth tradeoffs, but they don’t change MA’s fundamentals directly. Visa Vs. Mastercard: Which Payment Giant Is The Better Buy Today?
• Neutral Sentiment: Customer perks like the Asia Gourmet Circle (Mastercard Collection) support card retention/brand but have limited near‑term revenue impact. The Mastercard Collection: Savor the Extraordinary with Mastercard’s Asia Gourmet Circle Program
• Negative Sentiment: Opinion pieces on “agentic commerce” and AI agents highlight governance and regulatory risk as AI agents transact under delegated authority—this raises potential compliance and policy risk for payment networks enabling such flows. Europe’s Agentic commerce shift: Why AI agents are set to become economic actors

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of MA stock opened at $497.01 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $534.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $555.25. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $465.59 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $443.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 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.

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

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $656.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $670.61.

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.