Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lowered its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,378,551 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 4,835 shares during the period. Mastercard accounts for approximately 0.9% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.26% of Mastercard worth $1,352,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 valued at $7,541,880,000 after acquiring an additional 13,397,168 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $6,725,317,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 629,941 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Mastercard by 25.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,372,404 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,580,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,977 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

MA stock opened at $497.01 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $534.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $555.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $443.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.07%.

Key Stories Impacting 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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MA shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Macquarie Infrastructure increased their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $670.61.

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.