Arax Advisory Partners Sells 12,872 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Arax Advisory Partners cut its Visa stake by 29% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,872 shares and leaving the fund with 31,484 shares valued at about $11.0 million.
• Other institutional investors have been adding to Visa, including a major new position by Norges Bank, while institutions now own 82.15% of the company’s shares.
• Visa continues to attract bullish analyst coverage, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $387.78, while the company also reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue.

Arax Advisory Partners lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,484 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 12,872 shares during the period. Arax Advisory Partners' holdings in Visa were worth $11,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,880,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Visa by 110.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,396,930,000 after buying an additional 2,075,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Visa by 286.4% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $862,335,000 after buying an additional 1,872,362 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa unveiled a major partnership with OpenAI to embed its payment network into ChatGPT, allowing AI agents to shop and complete purchases with user permission. This positions Visa to stay central to the next phase of digital commerce and could open a new payment channel. Visa Partners with OpenAI to Power the Next Generation of AI Commerce
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also announced new AI, tokenization, and stablecoin settlement tools for programmable commerce, signaling that management is investing to defend its competitive moat and adapt to faster-moving payment rails. Visa Launches AI and Stablecoin Tools to Power Agentic Commerce
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent commentary pieces highlight Visa’s earnings growth, balance-sheet strength, and its expanding role in AI-driven commerce, which may be reinforcing investor confidence in the stock. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Visa (V) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: One report noted that Cuba’s central bank will suspend all Visa and Mastercard transactions after a processing partnership collapsed due to U.S. sanctions. The direct financial impact appears limited, but it is a reminder of Visa’s exposure to geopolitical and sanctions-related disruptions. Cuba’s Central Bank to Suspend all Visa (V) and Mastercard Transactions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern also surfaced around stablecoins, with Bill Gurley saying Visa and Mastercard are “heavily threatened” by them. That reinforces the market’s view that next-generation payment technologies could pressure long-term card network economics if adoption accelerates. Bill Gurley says Visa, and Mastercard are “heavily threatened” by stablecoins

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was 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 $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:V opened at $321.98 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $577.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.40. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $363.01.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.