Federated Hermes Inc. Has $153.54 Million Stock Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 269,940 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 140,403 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $153,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 54 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 45.2% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 61 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MA shares. Morgan Stanley set a $665.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mastercard from $690.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Mastercard from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup upgraded Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $660.81.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $519.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $466.83 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $554.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $564.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $465.59 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

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

Mastercard Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 22.25%.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard announced an AI-powered shopping change rolling out for Commonwealth Bank and Westpac customers in Australia — a first-of-its-kind feature that could boost merchant conversion and consumer engagement in a major market. Mastercard unveils major AI shopping change
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is trialing agent-led payments powered by Australian LLM Maincode, signaling product innovation that could expand service offerings and drive transactional revenue. Aussie LLM Maincode powers Mastercard’s agent-led payments trial
• Positive Sentiment: The company is broadening startup outreach to “agentic” AI firms, which may accelerate partnerships and new product pipelines in advanced AI-driven payments and services. Mastercard expands startup outreach to agentic AI firms
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage is active ahead of Q4 — research roundups and previews highlight expectations for double-digit revenue and EPS growth but caution on stretched valuation. Top Research Reports for Broadcom, Oracle & Mastercard
• Neutral Sentiment: Various analyst notes and education pieces reiterate Mastercard’s long-term growth case while flagging valuation and near-term results as key catalysts to monitor. Is Mastercard Stock a Smart Bet Ahead of Q4 Earnings?
• Negative Sentiment: ZeroHash reportedly walked away from multi-billion-dollar acquisition talks with Mastercard to remain independent, removing a potential strategic bolt-on and drawing attention to deal execution risks. ZeroHash walks away from Mastercard talks
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines and TV commentary (including Jim Cramer) referencing regulatory/PR issues like a “Trump credit card cap” and a modest analyst price‑target trim (Truist lowered its target while keeping a Buy) are contributing to near-term sentiment headwinds. Jim Cramer Discusses Mastercard & Trump Credit Card Cap

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.