Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Bank of America

Stock analysts at Bank of America began coverage on shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) in a report released on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the credit services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 35.84% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 price objective on Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $670.61.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MA traded down $7.59 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $515.33. The stock had a trading volume of 733,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,129,974. The company has a market cap of $459.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $541.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $558.24. Mastercard 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 posted its earnings results 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. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Mastercard will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 55,868.1% during the second 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,725,317,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Mastercard by 861.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,324,743,000 after buying an additional 3,648,748 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Mastercard by 25.6% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard partnered with SoFi to test SoFiUSD stablecoin settlement on its network, expanding settlement options for cross‑border remittances, B2B and digital‑asset flows — a move that could open new rails and fee opportunities. SoFi Mastercard Stablecoin Deal Shifts Focus To Payments Infrastructure Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Live trial of an autonomous AI payment agent with DBS and UOB in Singapore demonstrates product innovation and potential new payment UX/volume sources in APAC. Successful pilots improve odds of scaled deployments and merchant adoption. Mastercard, DBS and UOB successfully trial autonomous payment by AI agent in Singapore
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst momentum and investor interest: coverage notes MA as a top billionaire‑owned stock and Truist recently nudged its price target higher, supporting upside sentiment. Analyst upgrades/targets can drive demand. MasterCard (MA) Positioned To Benefit From Optimism Around Other Network Assessments
• Positive Sentiment: Industry ecosystem tailwinds: Stripe and others backing agentic tokens and BNPL that support Visa/Mastercard capabilities increases the network effect for Mastercard’s tokenization and partner APIs. Stripe Will Support Visa And Mastercard Agentic Tokens And Back BNPL for Klarna And Affirm
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor communications: Mastercard presented at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference — useful for visibility and guidance clarity, but no headline surprise reported in the transcript. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing product and CSR activity — new premium card launches in Canada with Rogers and the Small Business Fund for 2026 maintain growth initiatives and brand engagement but are incremental to revenue. Mastercard launches premium tier in Canada with Rogers as debut
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/competitive risk: European policymakers and industry voices argue for a payments system independent of Visa/Mastercard, which could translate into future policy or funded competition that pressures interchange and market share in Europe. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa

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.