Mastercard Incorporated $MA is GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's 7th Largest Position

Key Points

• GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd increased its Mastercard stake by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 90,167 shares worth about $51.5 million. Mastercard now represents roughly 7.1% of the fund’s portfolio and is its 7th largest position.
• Mastercard’s latest quarterly results were strong, with EPS of $4.60 beating estimates and revenue rising 15.8% year over year to $8.40 billion. The company also highlighted robust profitability, including a net margin of 45.88% and return on equity of 212.96%.
• Recent catalysts are mixed: Mastercard is expanding into stablecoin and tokenized payments and supporting SME resilience in MENA, but some analysts have cut price targets and UK regulators are probing the company for possible anti-competitive conduct.

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 90,167 shares of the credit services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,137 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up approximately 7.1% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's holdings in Mastercard were worth $51,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 6.5% during the third quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 466,222 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $265,233,000 after acquiring an additional 28,331 shares in the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $175,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 229,299 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $130,902,000 after acquiring an additional 9,795 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Mastercard

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard launched a regional SME resilience program in the Middle East and North Africa to help small businesses navigate conflict-related trade disruptions, rising energy costs, and logistics strain, which could expand Mastercard’s role in business payments across the region. Mastercard Rallies Partners to Support MENA Small Businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Yellow Card are piloting stablecoin payment use cases in EEMEA, adding to the company’s push into digital asset and next-generation payment infrastructure. Mastercard, Yellow Card to pilot stablecoin payment use cases in EEMEA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised FY2026 and FY2027 earnings estimates for Mastercard, reinforcing expectations for continued earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard is being tied to multiple tokenized treasury and stablecoin initiatives with partners like JPMorgan, Ripple, and Ondo, which highlights its growing presence in blockchain-based payments and settlement. Ondo, JPMorgan, Mastercard & Ripple complete cross-border Treasury redemption
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles note that Mastercard is a trending stock and worth watching, but they do not add new fundamentals or catalysts on their own. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard is preparing to launch services in Syria after a 15-year hiatus, a potentially incremental market expansion but not an immediate earnings driver. Mastercard prepares to launch services in Syria after 15 years
• Negative Sentiment: Macquarie lowered its price target on Mastercard, and Susquehanna also trimmed its target while noting slower April cross-border travel growth, signaling some caution around near-term volume trends. Here’s Why Macquarie Lowered PT on MasterCard (MA)
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are probing Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal over suspected anti-competitive conduct, which could increase legal and compliance risk for the payments industry. UK probes Mastercard, Visa, PayPal over suspected anti-competitive conduct

Mastercard Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:MA opened at $495.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $480.50 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The company has a market cap of $441.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $534.56.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.73 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 presently 20.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MA. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Mastercard from $611.00 to $590.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Mastercard to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $657.07.

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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