CENTRAL TRUST Co Decreases Holdings in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,025 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 1,134 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $19,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tacita Capital Inc raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Dagco Inc. grew its holdings in Mastercard by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 66 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management bought a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Mastercard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — Mastercard reported stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS, with revenue up ~16% YoY and margin/ROE remaining robust; that underpins the company’s earnings momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: MoonPay will issue a virtual Mastercard debit card to let AI agents and users spend stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted — expands crypto-to-fiat flows across the Mastercard network and creates incremental payment volume. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and product wins (Stripe integration, Wizard, Wells Fargo B2B efforts) reinforce Mastercard’s push into agentic commerce, tokenization and B2B card adoption — supports medium-term volume and fee growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Industry commentary highlights secular upside — analysts’ average price targets imply material upside and some firms have raised FY estimates, signaling continued analyst confidence in long-term growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call materials and transcripts are available for deeper read‑throughs on guidance and segment trends — useful for investors assessing sustainability of cross‑border and value‑added services growth. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its price target from $656 to $629 (still Outperform) — a downgrade in the target can prompt short-term selling even if the rating remains positive. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna modestly lowered its target (from $670 to $665) — another target adjustment that may increase near-term volatility despite a positive stance. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: several outlets note the stock fell despite earnings — suggests investor focus on valuation, buyback timing, margin pressure from rising expenses, or simply profit‑taking after recent gains. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $660.00 to $668.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Mastercard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $620.00 to $735.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mastercard from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Mastercard in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $631.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Mastercard from $735.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $657.07.

Mastercard Price Performance

Shares of MA opened at $495.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $506.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $536.08. Mastercard Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $480.50 and a fifty-two week high of $601.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $442.14 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.73 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.14%.

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.