Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Trims Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners reduced its Visa stake by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 42,656 shares and leaving it with 377,503 shares worth about $132.4 million.
• Several other institutional investors increased their positions, and overall 82.15% of Visa’s stock is now held by hedge funds and other institutions, showing continued strong institutional interest.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Visa, with a consensus "Buy" rating and an average price target of $387.78; meanwhile, Visa also reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations and authorized a $20 billion share buyback.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 377,503 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 42,656 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $132,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was 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 $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business'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 value 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. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa News Summary

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

Visa Stock Up 0.9%

Visa stock opened at $321.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $577.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $363.01. The business's 50-day moving average price is $318.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.40. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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