Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-one have given a buy recommendation and six have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $657.0741.

MA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group set a $610.00 price target on shares of Mastercard and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — Mastercard reported stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS, with revenue up ~16% YoY and margin/ROE remaining robust; that underpins the company’s earnings momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: MoonPay will issue a virtual Mastercard debit card to let AI agents and users spend stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted — expands crypto-to-fiat flows across the Mastercard network and creates incremental payment volume. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and product wins (Stripe integration, Wizard, Wells Fargo B2B efforts) reinforce Mastercard’s push into agentic commerce, tokenization and B2B card adoption — supports medium-term volume and fee growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Industry commentary highlights secular upside — analysts’ average price targets imply material upside and some firms have raised FY estimates, signaling continued analyst confidence in long-term growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call materials and transcripts are available for deeper read‑throughs on guidance and segment trends — useful for investors assessing sustainability of cross‑border and value‑added services growth. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its price target from $656 to $629 (still Outperform) — a downgrade in the target can prompt short-term selling even if the rating remains positive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna modestly lowered its target (from $670 to $665) — another target adjustment that may increase near-term volatility despite a positive stance. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: several outlets note the stock fell despite earnings — suggests investor focus on valuation, buyback timing, margin pressure from rising expenses, or simply profit‑taking after recent gains. Read More.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MA. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,705,708,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 861.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 4,072,210 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $2,324,743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648,748 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Mastercard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,181,341,000 after acquiring an additional 955,533 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MA opened at $495.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $506.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $536.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The company has a market cap of $442.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.01, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard has a 52-week low of $480.50 and a 52-week high of $601.77.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 19.52 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 21.07%.

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.