Highland Capital Management LLC Acquires 7,723 Shares of Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Key Points

• Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 798.7%, buying 7,723 shares in the quarter to hold 8,690 shares worth about $4.961 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Mastercard delivered a Q1 beat with $4.60 EPS vs. $4.41 expected and revenue of $8.40 billion (up 15.8% YoY), declared a $0.87 quarterly dividend, and maintains ~97% institutional ownership with a consensus "Buy" rating and a $657.07 average target price.

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 798.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,690 shares of the credit services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,723 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Mastercard were worth $4,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vulcan Value Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Mastercard by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $265,233,000 after purchasing an additional 28,331 shares in the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Mastercard by 153.6% during the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $1,625,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the fourth quarter worth $1,113,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 309,192 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $175,872,000 after buying an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider's stock worth $130,902,000 after buying an additional 9,795 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is deepening its digital-asset strategy: acquiring BVNK and partnering with MoonPay, Rain and KuCoin to enable stablecoin-backed and on-chain payments, and rolling out programmable/AI agent payment tools — a move that expands addressable revenue from crypto rails and developer-driven payments. Mastercard Deepens Digital Asset Push With Stablecoin And AI Payment Rails
• Positive Sentiment: Rain partnership widens stablecoin-backed card acceptance, accelerating merchant adoption of crypto-to-fiat flows that can lift transaction volume. This is incremental revenue potential for Mastercard’s network services. Rain expands stablecoin card network with Mastercard partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Recorded Future (a Mastercard business) was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for cyberthreat intelligence — validating Mastercard’s push into high-margin security and analytics services that improve monetization per transaction. Recorded Future Named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cyberthreat Intelligence Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Industry commentary and coverage are upbeat after Mastercard’s Q1 beat; outlets and commentators (including Jim Cramer and buy-side write-ups) point to accelerating underlying trends — AI infrastructure, higher GMV and strong margins — supporting longer-term growth expectations. Mastercard Is One Of Our Top Picks After Q1 Beat Jim Cramer on Mastercard: “Very Strong Quarter in the Face of a Very Tricky Economic Backdrop”
• Positive Sentiment: PYMNTS research highlights B2B and SMB demand for better payment controls and lower costs from late payments — tailwinds for Mastercard’s B2B products and value-added services that could grow transaction volumes and fee-based revenue. Mastercard Targets the Hidden Cost of Late B2B Payments
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry pieces on "agentic commerce" and payment networks moving AI agents into core flows describe structural opportunity for networks, but adoption timelines and regulatory integration remain uncertain. This supports the long-term thesis but is not an immediate earnings driver. Payment Networks Ready Infrastructure for Agentic Commerce at Scale
• Negative Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its price target for MA to $629, reflecting a modest re‑rating that could temper near-term sentiment around valuation despite strong fundamentals. Analyst target cuts can cap upside if more firms follow. Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Mastercard NYSE: MA Price Target to $629.00

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $739.00 price objective on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $657.07.

Mastercard Trading Up 2.0%

MA opened at $505.43 on Tuesday. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $480.50 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.25, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $506.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $535.86.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 212.96% and a net margin of 45.88%.Mastercard's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard's dividend payout ratio is 20.14%.

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.

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