Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by L & S Advisors Inc

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1,283.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,323 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,432 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,148 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,066,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares during the period. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 41,742 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Visa by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $966,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its stake in Visa by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 337,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $118,216,000 after buying an additional 101,619 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.67.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $325.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $311.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.