Banco Santander S.A. Acquires 25,038 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Banco Santander increased its Visa stake by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 25,038 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 267,065 shares worth about $93.7 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $3.31 beating estimates and revenue of $11.23 billion also topping forecasts. Revenue rose 17.1% year over year, underscoring continued business momentum.
• Management continues returning capital to shareholders through a new $20 billion share repurchase authorization and a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share. The stock has also drawn generally bullish analyst coverage, with a consensus rating of “Buy.”

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 267,065 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 25,038 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Banco Santander S.A.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Visa were worth $93,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $15,411,395,000 after buying an additional 388,996 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,463,484,000 after buying an additional 193,288 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,516,371 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,547,169,000 after buying an additional 244,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $5,877,738,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.9%

Visa stock opened at $321.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $577.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $363.01. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $318.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $324.40.

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

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Visa Company 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.

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