Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Bought by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 35.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,435 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vulcan Value Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $265,233,000 after purchasing an additional 28,331 shares in the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 153.6% in the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 309,192 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $175,872,000 after buying an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 88.9% during the third quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 15,335 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,723,000 after buying an additional 7,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 3,694.7% in the 3rd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 9,297 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,288,000 after acquiring an additional 9,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard expanded its partnership with SoFi to enable SoFiUSD stablecoin settlements across Mastercard’s global payments network — a move that could accelerate cross‑border and B2B settlement use cases and support fees from new rails. Mastercard’s Stablecoin Moment: SoFiUSD Gets Global Settlement Rails
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is supportive: Bank of America/other firms have highlighted card networks as defensive growth plays and some firms have raised price targets or maintain Buy ratings, giving upside to valuation expectations. BofA sees card networks as safest bets Mastercard Receives Consensus ‘Buy’
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate / partnership PR — a Mastercard executive was appointed to Delivering Good’s board (non‑financial/CSR news). Useful for reputation but unlikely to move fundamentals. Delivering Good Welcomes Three New Board Members
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry positioning: coverage of Mastercard trialing autonomous payment/AI agents and engaging with standards work — signals ongoing product innovation; timing and monetization remain uncertain. Mastercard, DBS and UOB trial autonomous payment AI agent Visa, Mastercard jockey to set agentic standards
• Negative Sentiment: Risk theme — analysts and stories are raising the prospect that AI shopping agents could reduce the role of card networks in commerce, a structural threat that could pressure long‑term growth assumptions. Are Visa and Mastercard vulnerable to AI shopping agents?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/competitive concern — coverage arguing Europe needs a payments system independent of Visa/Mastercard highlights potential policy/headwinds that could limit market access or pricing power in key regions. Why Europe needs a payment system independent of Mastercard and Visa
• Negative Sentiment: Negative media spotlight — high‑profile commentators have advised caution on trading Mastercard, which can amplify short‑term selling pressure despite underlying fundamentals. Cramer’s Stop Trading: Mastercard

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MA. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $739.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $656.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $611.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Six investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $521.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $465.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $465.59 and a twelve month high of $601.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $539.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $557.37.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 21.07%.

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.