Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock: Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stake

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,946 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 865 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises about 2.0% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $8,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Mastercard by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,964,305 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $18,984,867,000 after buying an additional 486,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,559,779,000 after acquiring an additional 480,725 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,648,748 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Mastercard by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,216,000 after acquiring an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 5.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,862,527,000 after acquiring an additional 199,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on shares of Mastercard from $710.00 to $688.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $631.00 to $647.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price objective on Mastercard from $580.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Mastercard from $665.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $681.56.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird raised its price target from $660 to $710 and upgraded Mastercard to “Outperform,” implying approximately 20.5% upside from the referenced share price. The call reflects confidence in Mastercard’s earnings momentum and long-term growth prospects. Tickerreport.com analyst price target article
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding offline payment capabilities in Europe and globally. Beginning in February 2027, newly issued Mastercard cards in Europe are expected to support payments during power or network outages. The initiative could improve reliability, strengthen Mastercard’s value to issuers and merchants, and support transaction growth in its core network. Mastercard offline payments Europe
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard continues to pursue new payment channels and partnerships. Its collaboration with LuLu Money targets connected financial services for small and midsize businesses, while partnerships involving SoFi and Orbi support a crypto-linked card in Mexico and stablecoin settlement. These efforts could broaden payment volumes and create exposure to emerging digital-finance use cases. Mastercard SoFi and Orbi crypto card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is investing in future growth through technology and geographic expansion, including a second Dublin office, an expanded European technology hub, AI-agent commerce initiatives and a broader collaboration with stc pay Bahrain for small-business payments. Mastercard expands European technology hub
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard will report third-quarter 2026 results on October 29. The upcoming earnings release is the next major catalyst, particularly as investors assess transaction growth, cross-border volumes, margins and guidance. Mastercard third-quarter 2026 earnings announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Political support for a stalled credit-card bill could increase regulatory pressure on Mastercard and Visa. Possible changes to network competition and interchange economics could reduce revenue or pricing power and disrupt card-rewards programs. Credit-card bill affecting Mastercard

Mastercard Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $589.42 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $464.52 and a 1 year high of $601.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $572.28 and its 200-day moving average is $531.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $516.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.76.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 239.99%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.15 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.90 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 19.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sachin Mehra sold 7,444 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.13, for a total transaction of $4,296,155.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 40,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,613,851.08. The trade was a 15.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 67,618 shares of company stock valued at $38,854,630 in the last 90 days. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payment transactions, while generally not issuing cards or extending credit itself. Its network supports payments made in stores, online and through mobile devices.

Mastercard’s products and services include consumer and commercial payment cards, digital payment solutions, payment processing, fraud prevention, cybersecurity, identity verification, data and analytics, and open banking tools.