Mastercard Incorporated $MA Stock: Sepio Capital LP Trims Stake

Sepio Capital LP lessened its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 27.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,887 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,443 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $2,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MA. Fundsmith LLP bought a new stake in Mastercard in the second quarter valued at about $639,458,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 147.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 1,682,183 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $863,969,000 after buying an additional 1,001,671 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 295.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 860,011 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $441,702,000 after buying an additional 642,724 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $293,574,000. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 2,464,499 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,231,412,000 after acquiring an additional 575,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

More Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tokenization could support revenue growth. UBS estimates payment-tokenization services may contribute low-single-digit percentage growth to Mastercard’s overall revenue and low-to-mid-single-digit growth in value-added services as digital payments expand and fraud prevention becomes more important. Visa and Mastercard tokenization fees could support revenue growth, UBS says
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming earnings expectations are favorable. Analysts anticipate year-over-year earnings growth in Mastercard’s upcoming report, while recent results have exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue. This is reinforcing expectations for another potential earnings beat. MasterCard Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is expanding its technology and payments ecosystem. New initiatives include AI tools that help cardholders use benefits, developer APIs for AI-agent payments, stablecoin risk-assessment capabilities and a Global Money Platform developed with BVNK. These products could create future revenue streams and strengthen Mastercard’s role in digital commerce. Mastercard unveils AI assistant to help cardholders use benefits
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships broaden payment volume opportunities. Agreements with Aurionpro for contactless transit payments in North America and BankIslami for Shariah-compliant cards could expand Mastercard’s acceptance footprint and transaction volumes. Its First-Party Trust program also targets rising “friendly fraud,” supporting merchant demand for Mastercard’s security services. Aurionpro, Mastercard Partner on Contactless Transit Payments in North America
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and execution remain considerations. Mastercard has substantially outperformed the broader market and trades at a premium earnings multiple. Investors will likely focus on whether upcoming results and guidance justify that valuation, particularly as the shares approach their 52-week high. Is the Market Underpricing Mastercard Stock?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore boosted their price target on Mastercard from $550.00 to $620.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Mastercard from $680.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $679.00 to $681.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. President Capital boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $693.00 to $729.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $682.66.

Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA opened at $632.46 on Friday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $464.52 and a 12 month high of $633.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.96, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $554.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $580.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $538.90.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.77 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.08 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 239.99% and a net margin of 46.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.14%.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, CEO Michael Miebach sold 16,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.68, for a total value of $9,439,383.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 115,921 shares in the company, valued at $65,806,033.28. This represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Linda Kirkpatrick sold 4,280 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.31, for a total value of $2,440,926.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,781,695.49. The trade was a 12.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 72,676 shares of company stock worth $41,966,586 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Profile

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses. The company facilitates electronic payments and provides technology that supports transactions conducted through credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payment products.

In addition to operating its payments network, Mastercard offers services in areas such as payment security, fraud prevention, authentication, cybersecurity, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital identity and open banking.