Level Financial Advisors Takes $687,000 Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Level Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,207 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $687,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the second quarter worth $26,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the first quarter worth $27,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.2%

MA opened at $576.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $517.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $554.34 and its 200 day moving average is $565.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $465.59 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.53 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 202.03% and a net margin of 45.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase from Mastercard’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 19.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MA shares. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, October 31st. 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 set a $620.00 target price on shares of Mastercard and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.48.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Holiday spending strength: Mastercard SpendingPulse and industry data show U.S. holiday retail sales up roughly 3.9–4% year-over-year, signaling higher transaction volumes and swipe/processing revenue for Mastercard. Mastercard SpendingPulse
• Positive Sentiment: New merchant product: Mastercard launched “Merchant Cloud” to help merchants optimize digital commerce, which could drive adoption, platform fees and deeper merchant relationships over time. Mastercard introduces Merchant Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership to scale agentic commerce: Mastercard and Fiserv expanded a partnership to adopt Mastercard’s Agent Pay Acceptance Framework, positioning Mastercard to capture fees and volume as AI-driven and agentic commerce grows. This supports medium-term revenue diversification. Fiserv and Mastercard partner
• Positive Sentiment: New lending distribution channel: Mastercard partnered with LoanPro to launch “Loan on Card,” enabling lenders to deliver loans via virtual cards — a potential incremental payments and interchange revenue stream. Mastercard partners with LoanPro
• Positive Sentiment: Regional growth outlook: Mastercard’s outlook expects the Middle East & Africa to outperform global growth in 2026, highlighting geographic pockets of above-average transaction growth and cross-border opportunity. Mastercard outlook for MEA
• Neutral Sentiment: Cybersecurity focus: Mastercard reiterated initiatives to neutralize cyber threats — positive for risk management but unlikely to move near-term revenue; more of a governance/operational plus. Mastercard on cybersecurity risks
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer behavior insights: Mastercard’s consumer/shopper snapshot highlights a “value shift” toward deals and e‑commerce — useful for forecasting volumes and mix, but directional rather than catalytic. Consumer shopper snapshot
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor flow note: Options flow and trading-interest writeups show elevated investor attention in MA, which can increase short-term volatility but doesn’t change fundamentals. Options trading trends

Mastercard 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.