Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $220.73 Million Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 388,055 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,563 shares during the quarter. Mastercard comprises approximately 1.8% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Mastercard were worth $220,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 386,610 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $219,908,000 after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Crux Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Crux Wealth Advisors now owns 2,532 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. now owns 3,300 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Mastercard by 20.8% during the third quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the third quarter worth approximately $386,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Mastercard stock opened at $497.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $443.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.83. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $465.59 and a 52 week high of $601.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $534.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $555.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The company had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.82 earnings per share. Mastercard’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a global Crypto Partner Program with ~85 crypto and payments firms (Binance, Circle, PayPal, Gemini, etc.), aiming to connect on‑chain assets to its card network—this accelerates potential new transaction volume and positioning in digital assets. Mastercard launches crypto partner program with 85 companies to reshape global payments
• Positive Sentiment: MA introduced a Virtual C‑Suite starting with an AI‑powered Virtual CFO for small businesses, a product that could drive subscription or platform revenue and deepen merchant/client data monetization. Mastercard’s Virtual C-Suite Brings AI-Powered CFO to Small Firms
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with Ericsson aims to simplify global digital money movement for telcos, fintechs and banks—helpful for scaling access in underbanked markets and expanding transaction rails. Ericsson and Mastercard Enhance Global Digital Money Movement and Accelerate Digital Financial Inclusion
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard rolled out the Mastercard Global Commerce Suite for Small Businesses in APAC to simplify cross‑border payments for SMEs—could increase transaction volumes among growing merchants. Mastercard Simplifies Cross-Border Payments for Asia Pacific SMEs
• Positive Sentiment: Brazilian fintech Barte selected Mastercard’s risk intelligence via Oscilar for fraud and compliance—an example of banks/fintechs adopting Mastercard services beyond core processing. Barte Selects Oscilar’s AI-Native Risk Decisioning Platform to Transform Fraud and Compliance Operations
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and “trending stock” pieces (Zacks/Yahoo) are driving investor attention; they summarize fundamentals and analyst expectations but contain no new company disclosures. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative analysis pieces (e.g., Visa vs Mastercard) may influence flows by arguing relative valuation or growth tradeoffs, but they don’t change MA’s fundamentals directly. Visa Vs. Mastercard: Which Payment Giant Is The Better Buy Today?
• Neutral Sentiment: Customer perks like the Asia Gourmet Circle (Mastercard Collection) support card retention/brand but have limited near‑term revenue impact. The Mastercard Collection: Savor the Extraordinary with Mastercard’s Asia Gourmet Circle Program
• Negative Sentiment: Opinion pieces on “agentic commerce” and AI agents highlight governance and regulatory risk as AI agents transact under delegated authority—this raises potential compliance and policy risk for payment networks enabling such flows. Europe’s Agentic commerce shift: Why AI agents are set to become economic actors

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $739.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $670.61.

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.