Farther Finance Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its Mastercard stake by 43.6% to 28,380 shares (worth $16.2M), while overall institutional ownership stands at 97.28% with large managers like Vanguard and State Street also adding exposure.
• Wall Street sentiment is largely positive with a consensus "Buy" rating and a $662 target price, though some firms have adjusted targets (e.g., Citigroup cut its target to $675) amid mixed analyst revisions.
• Mastercard reported a quarterly beat—EPS $4.76 vs. $4.24 estimate and revenue up 17.5% year‑over‑year—and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.87 (ex‑dividend April 9, payable May 8).

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 43.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,380 shares of the credit services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $16,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MA. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.8% in the third 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,431,340 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $45,181,341,000 after purchasing an additional 955,533 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 792.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,523 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $494,110,000 after purchasing an additional 768,514 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,347,834 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $5,885,944,000 after purchasing an additional 629,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter worth $245,980,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MA. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Mastercard to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Mastercard has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $662.00.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights Mastercard's strong growth attributes and argues MA remains a multi-year compounder, supporting buy-side interest from growth investors. Is MasterCard (MA) a Solid Growth Stock? 3 Reasons to Think "Yes"
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also reports that consensus analyst targets imply roughly ~28.8% upside, and notes that upward revisions to earnings estimates could drive further near-term gains. Wall Street Analysts Think MasterCard (MA) Could Surge 28.81%: Read This Before Placing a Bet
• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha articles argue Mastercard is shifting toward higher‑margin data and services (now a sizable part of revenue) and present bullish valuation cases—these narratives can support a re-rating if execution and cross‑border/pass‑through volumes hold. Mastercard: More Than A Payment Network, And Still Undervalued
• Positive Sentiment: Another Seeking Alpha piece profiles Mastercard as a dividend‑growth idea on sale, which may attract income-seeking investors given MA's cash flow profile and buyback/dividend policy. Mastercard: Buy This Dividend Growth All-Star On Sale Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard confirmed it will report Q1 2026 results and host a conference call on April 30 — a key near-term catalyst that could drive volatility depending on guidance and margin commentary. Mastercard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is reportedly in talks on a digital financial‑inclusion project in Ethiopia — a potentially strategic geographic expansion but likely immaterial to near‑term revenue. Mastercard in talks for digital financial inclusion project in Ethiopia
• Negative Sentiment: Citigroup cut its price target on MA from $735 to $675 (while keeping a Buy rating) — the downward revision reduces the ceiling implied by sell‑side guidance and may cap upside or cool some momentum despite the retained positive rating. Benzinga

Mastercard Stock Up 0.9%

MA opened at $513.08 on Wednesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $511.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $540.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $457.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.83.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $8.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.65% and a return on equity of 203.92%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share 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 given a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard's 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.

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