Brown Advisory Inc. Has $2.59 Billion Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its Visa stake by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, but it still held 7.4 million shares valued at about $2.59 billion, making Visa its second-largest holding.
• Visa continues to attract major institutional ownership, with Vanguard, State Street, and Geode all increasing their positions; overall, institutional investors own 82.15% of the company.
• The company is leaning into future payment trends with an OpenAI partnership and new AI, tokenization, and stablecoin tools, while also reporting strong recent results, a quarterly dividend, and a new $20 billion share buyback authorization.

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,399,041 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 247,694 shares during the period. Visa makes up 3.6% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.41% of Visa worth $2,594,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after acquiring an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,516,371 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,547,169,000 after acquiring an additional 244,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Key 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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%

V stock opened at $321.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $577.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $363.01. The stock's 50 day moving average is $318.69 and its 200-day moving average is $324.40.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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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