Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stake Reduced by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,153 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,258 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $13,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 486,283 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 10.4% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,559,779,000 after buying an additional 480,725 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,225,359 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,111,216,000 after buying an additional 42,871 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Mastercard by 5.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,626,416 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,862,527,000 after buying an additional 199,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Mastercard by 17.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,831,763,000 after buying an additional 554,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its growth opportunity in business-to-business payments through an “agentic AI” strategy targeting the roughly $80 trillion B2B market. The initiative could support long-term transaction volume and value-added-services growth. Inside Mastercard’s Agentic AI Strategy For The $80 Trillion B2B Payments Market
• Positive Sentiment: UBS said payment tokenization could contribute a low-single-digit percentage to Mastercard’s medium-term revenue growth, while producing a low-to-mid-single-digit contribution to value-added-services growth. This reinforces the investment case for Mastercard’s security and digital-payments businesses. Visa and Mastercard tokenization fees could support revenue growth
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a Stablecoin Security API that provides real-time risk scoring for fiat-to-stablecoin transactions. The platform could create additional enterprise revenue while positioning Mastercard as an intermediary in regulated digital-asset payments. Mastercard Introduced A Stablecoin Security API
• Positive Sentiment: New initiatives—including an AI assistant for cardholders, expanded fraud protection through First-Party Trust, and partnerships for contactless transit and premium co-branded cards—could improve customer engagement, fraud-related services, and payment volumes across international markets. Mastercard unveils AI assistant to help cardholders use benefits
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is scheduled to report earnings next week. Analysts expect earnings growth and are highlighting the potential for a beat, but investors may remain cautious until management provides updated guidance on consumer spending, cross-border volumes, and operating expenses. MasterCard Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Negative Sentiment: Payment-network stocks, including Mastercard, Visa, and American Express, have been slipping as investors reacted skeptically to American Express’s quarterly results despite a profit outlook improvement. The sector-wide move appears to be weighing on Mastercard independently of its company-specific announcements. American Express Falls Despite Q3 Beat; Visa and Mastercard Slip

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total value of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 115,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,806,033.28. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $620.00, for a total value of $2,676,540.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,165,000. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 72,676 shares of company stock worth $41,966,586 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE:MA traded down $10.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $622.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,697,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,076,390. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96. The firm has a market cap of $545.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $581.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $539.49. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $464.52 and a twelve month high of $633.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MA. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $642.00 to $696.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $670.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Clear Str upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $683.94.

About Mastercard

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 electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.