Premier Fund Managers Ltd Grows Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 48,481 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,205 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $27,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 255,951 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $145,587,000 after purchasing an additional 6,164 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 8,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $4,561,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Triodos Investment Management BV grew its holdings in Mastercard by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Triodos Investment Management BV now owns 102,264 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $58,169,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Barings LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 7.1% during the third quarter. Barings LLC now owns 543 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Siligmueller & Norvid Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter worth $449,000. 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: 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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MA shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $668.00 to $671.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $669.27.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA opened at $525.94 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $465.59 and a 1 year high of $601.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $551.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $561.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.30 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.83. 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 issued 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. The firm had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend 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%.

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.