ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Has $3.94 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its Mastercard stake by 438.6% in the first quarter, ending with 7,879 shares valued at about $3.94 million.
• Mastercard continues to see broadly positive institutional and analyst sentiment, with Barclays initiating coverage at overweight/strong-buy and a consensus analyst rating of Buy.
• The company reported strong first-quarter results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per share payable on August 7.

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 438.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,879 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,416 shares during the quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $3,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in Mastercard by 820.0% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded Mastercard to strong-buy, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and reinforcing confidence in the company’s long-term growth outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a platform designed to enable secure AI-agent and machine-to-machine payments, which could open a new growth avenue in emerging digital commerce. Mastercard (MA) Launches AP4M To Bring AI Agent Payments Onchain
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and VEON announced a partnership to expand financial services across several markets, highlighting continued international expansion and transaction-network growth potential. VEON (VEON), Mastercard (MA) Partner to Expand Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still expect strong fundamentals, and recent commentary emphasized Mastercard’s resilient operations and earnings-growth forecasts, which helped support the stock despite technical weakness.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard will report second-quarter 2026 results on July 30, keeping investors focused on payment-volume trends, margins, and whether growth can justify the valuation. Mastercard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale of 200 shares was disclosed, but it was a small pre-planned transaction under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, so it is not a major signal by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Mastercard’s move below its 200-day moving average may be weighing on sentiment, as traders often view that level as a key technical support point.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader concerns around stablecoin competition, regulatory fee pressure, and alternative payment rails could pressure legacy card-network stocks like Mastercard and Visa.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MA traded up $2.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $526.14. 1,616,894 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,819,577. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $499.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $517.53. The company has a market cap of $464.89 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1-year low of $464.52 and a 1-year high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. Mastercard's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,880. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total transaction of $1,047,276.21. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,702,934.17. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MA. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Mastercard from $656.00 to $629.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Wednesday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $640.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Mastercard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Mastercard from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $653.78.

About Mastercard

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.

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