J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Sells 21,586 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG cut its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 144,289 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 21,586 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises 1.2% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $72,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $45,612,087,000 after acquiring an additional 466,514 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in Mastercard by 53,535.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 72,597,097 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $41,444,231,000 after purchasing an additional 72,461,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $20,807,283,000 after purchasing an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,686,605 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $11,773,153,000 after purchasing an additional 349,369 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,964,658 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $10,256,368,000 after purchasing an additional 759,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Raj Seshadri sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.00, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,625,225. The trade was a 22.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total value of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% 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 7,005 shares of company stock valued at $3,689,976 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:MA opened at $526.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $499.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $517.11. The company has a market capitalization of $464.89 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.73 EPS. Mastercard’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.14%.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Mastercard to strong-buy, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and reinforcing confidence in the company’s long-term growth outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a platform designed to enable secure AI-agent and machine-to-machine payments, which could open a new growth avenue in emerging digital commerce. Mastercard (MA) Launches AP4M To Bring AI Agent Payments Onchain
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and VEON announced a partnership to expand financial services across several markets, highlighting continued international expansion and transaction-network growth potential. VEON (VEON), Mastercard (MA) Partner to Expand Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still expect strong fundamentals, and recent commentary emphasized Mastercard’s resilient operations and earnings-growth forecasts, which helped support the stock despite technical weakness.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard will report second-quarter 2026 results on July 30, keeping investors focused on payment-volume trends, margins, and whether growth can justify the valuation. Mastercard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale of 200 shares was disclosed, but it was a small pre-planned transaction under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, so it is not a major signal by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard’s move below its 200-day moving average may be weighing on sentiment, as traders often view that level as a key technical support point.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader concerns around stablecoin competition, regulatory fee pressure, and alternative payment rails could pressure legacy card-network stocks like Mastercard and Visa.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MA shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $653.78.

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.