Mastercard Incorporated $MA Shares Sold by Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.

Key Points

• Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. cut its Mastercard stake by 98.7% in Q4, selling 109,367 shares and leaving 1,472 shares valued at $838,000 per its latest 13F filing.
• Mastercard beat Q1 expectations with $4.60 EPS vs. $4.41 expected and $8.40B in revenue (up 15.8% year‑over‑year), and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.87 ($3.48 annual, ~0.7% yield).
• Institutional investors own about 97.3% of MA, analysts maintain an overall "Buy" consensus with an average target near $657, and several firms recently adjusted price targets and ratings.

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA - Free Report) by 98.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,472 shares of the credit services provider's stock after selling 109,367 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.'s holdings in Mastercard were worth $838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,897,854 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $45,612,087,000 after acquiring an additional 466,514 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Mastercard by 2.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,580,374 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $20,807,283,000 after acquiring an additional 997,536 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in 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 valued at $5,885,944,000 after acquiring an additional 629,941 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,806,887 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,303,015,000 after acquiring an additional 235,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Mastercard by 6.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,658,547 shares of the credit services provider's stock valued at $3,218,638,000 after acquiring an additional 339,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the company's stock.

Mastercard Stock Down 1.1%

Mastercard stock opened at $491.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $438.47 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.76. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12 month low of $480.50 and a 12 month high of $601.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $534.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.41 by $0.19. The business 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%.The business's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

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 20.14%.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard participated in a pilot that completed a near‑real‑time, cross‑border tokenized U.S. Treasury redemption with JPMorgan, Ripple and Ondo — a proof‑of‑concept that signals Mastercard is active in tokenized securities and settlement rails that could open new fee and product opportunities. Ondo, JPMorgan, Mastercard & Ripple complete cross-border Treasury redemption
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard made a strategic investment in Astrada’s $3.8M seed round to build a data layer for “autonomous finance,” showing continued corporate venture activity to enhance data and product capabilities. Strategic VC bets can accelerate product development and partnerships. Astrada Raises Seed Round to Build the Data Layer for Autonomous Finance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Morgan Stanley nudged its price target slightly higher and reiterated an Overweight rating, reflecting continued buy‑side confidence in MA’s long‑term cash generation and secular payments growth. Analyst upward moves can underpin investor sentiment. Morgan Stanley Raises Mastercard (MA) Target; Raymond James Flags Near-Term Headwinds
• Positive Sentiment: Income stability: coverage noting Mastercard’s upcoming quarterly dividend and strong free cash flow reinforces the view that the payout is well covered — supportive for income‑oriented holders. Here’s Why Mastercard’s Dividend Payout Looks Bulletproof
• Positive Sentiment: Product push: Mastercard is targeting late B2B payment costs with new initiatives — if successful, this could expand addressable market and usage of its rails for higher‑value commercial flows. Mastercard Targets the Hidden Cost of Late B2B Payments
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context — Global Payments (GPN) reported a Q1 beat driven by Worldpay momentum; strong peers can signal healthy market volumes but also competitive dynamics. This is industry context rather than a direct MA catalyst. Global Payments Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Worldpay Momentum
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: UK regulators have opened an investigation into PayPal, Visa and Mastercard over potential anti‑competitive conduct tied to PayPal’s wallet funding and use — this raises the prospect of fines, remedies or changes to wallet economics in a major market. PayPal, Visa and Mastercard Face UK Competition Investigation

Analyst Ratings Changes

MA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price target on Mastercard from $660.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Mastercard from $685.00 to $655.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Mastercard from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $679.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Six investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price 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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