Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock: Cornerstone Advisors LLC Cuts Position

Cornerstone Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 9,143 shares during the period. Mastercard comprises about 0.8% of Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $24,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MA. State Street Corp boosted its position in Mastercard by 1.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 10.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,123,041 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,559,779,000 after purchasing an additional 480,725 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,386,119 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,418,813,000 after buying an additional 28,834 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% in the first 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 buying an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 17.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,666,018 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,763,000 after buying an additional 554,366 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $661.13 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $600.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $542.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $575.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.78. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $681.99.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The credit services provider reported $5.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $0.14. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.73% and a return on equity of 260.86%. The business had revenue of $9.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 20.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 18.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $764.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $701.00 target price (up from $674.00) on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Freedom Broker downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $620.00 to $725.00 in a report on Thursday, November 5th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $667.00 to $726.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $640.00 to $694.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.21.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Investors following MA have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its EPS estimates across multiple periods, including FY2027 to $22.98 from $22.34 and FY2028 to $26.45 from $25.74. The broad upward revisions suggest improving expectations for earnings growth. Mastercard analyst estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard opened its largest Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre of Excellence in Singapore, focused on AI-enabled payments, cybersecurity and agentic commerce. The hub could help develop new services and partnerships across the region; the company also plans to add more than 250 specialist roles in Singapore by 2029. Mastercard opens Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage also cites favorable analyst views of Mastercard, but the articles provide limited detail on new price targets or near-term earnings impact. With no major downside catalyst in the supplied reports, the recent news flow appears modestly supportive rather than a clear standalone driver of the shares.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mastercard

In other Mastercard news, Director Julius Genachowski sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.01, for a total transaction of $217,038.71. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,035,181.07. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ling Hai sold 4,318 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.43, for a total value of $2,774,012.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,966,872.50. This represents a 10.78% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $15,428,736. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Its network supports electronic payments, including transactions made with Mastercard-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, as well as digital payment methods. The company provides technology for authorizing, clearing and settling transactions. It also offers services related to cybersecurity, identity verification, data analytics, fraud prevention and payment consulting.