Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Receives $659.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $659.00.

Several brokerages recently commented on MA. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Mastercard from $665.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mastercard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $685.00 target price on Mastercard in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Mastercard from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Mastercard from $730.00 to $735.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th.

Mastercard News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upward revision — Erste Group slightly lifted its FY2026 EPS forecast for MA (to $19.63), reinforcing buy-side confidence ahead of earnings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation — Mastercard expanded AI agent payment capabilities (Agent Pay, Verifiable Intent) and broadened crypto payments partnerships (KuCoin, integrations with agent platforms), a visible growth/innovation narrative that supports longer-term revenue diversification. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate partnerships/startups — GovTech firm Glass joined Mastercard Start Path’s Corporate Solutions program to modernize public-sector payments, signaling incremental commercial opportunities in government payment infrastructure. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Standards leadership — Mastercard and Google contributed agentic-commerce standards to the FIDO Alliance, positioning the company as a standards leader in secure, AI-driven commerce (strategic moat). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street/bullish commentary — Multiple bullish write-ups (including a noted 28% upside consensus and recent positive analyst coverage) are keeping sentiment constructive into the print. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Peer results supportive — Visa reported a strong quarter on payment-volume strength, which can lift sentiment for Mastercard as investors extrapolate similar demand trends across the payments sector. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings focus — Market attention is squarely on MA’s quarterly report tomorrow (pre-market); previews flag revenue growth and potential margin pressure from rising costs/rebates — results and guide will be the immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor outreach — Mastercard will appear at two investor conferences in May, which increases management access but is unlikely to move the stock materially absent new guidance. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/settlement risk — Retail groups are objecting to a proposed ~$200 billion interchange-fee settlement involving Visa and Mastercard, a headline risk that could lead to protracted litigation or settlement changes and weigh on valuation if it escalates. Read More.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 820.0% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in Mastercard by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc increased its holdings in Mastercard by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MA opened at $525.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $468.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Mastercard has a one year low of $480.50 and a one year high of $601.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $507.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.46.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit services provider reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.80 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 203.92% and a net margin of 45.65%.The company’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.82 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is currently 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.