Ethic Inc. Purchases 6,965 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its Visa stake by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, adding 6,965 shares and bringing its total holding to 181,502 shares worth about $63.7 million. Visa now makes up 1.0% of Ethic’s portfolio and is its 11th largest position.
• Visa’s business results remain strong, with the company recently reporting EPS of $3.31 versus expectations of $3.10 and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year. The article also notes that several brokerages raised future earnings estimates, reflecting confidence in continued profit growth.
• Shareholder returns and capital allocation are supportive, as Visa authorized a $20 billion stock buyback and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share. The dividend implies an annualized payout of $2.68 and a yield of about 0.8%.

Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 181,502 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 6,965 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.0% of Ethic Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $63,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the 4th 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 in 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 buying an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,521,000 after acquiring an additional 2,230 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa just reported its strongest revenue growth since 2022, reinforcing that consumer and cross-border spending trends remain healthy and supporting the case that the stock deserves a premium valuation. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokerages, including Erste Group Bank and Zacks Research, raised Visa earnings estimates for FY2026, FY2027, and FY2028, signaling confidence that profit growth can stay strong over the next several years.
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is also advancing its stablecoin strategy, including pilot projects tied to settlement and payment rails, which may strengthen its role in next-generation digital payments. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: News that Exodus launched an AI-agent focused stablecoin on Solana using Visa payment rails highlights growing third-party use cases for Visa’s network in emerging fintech and AI-driven payments. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around card-issuing and processing solutions, as well as travel-credit-card rankings, is supportive of the broader payments ecosystem but does not materially change Visa’s near-term earnings outlook. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One analyst note trimmed a few near-term quarterly EPS estimates, which could temper expectations for some upcoming periods even though the longer-term forecast trend remains positive.

Visa Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of V stock opened at $318.66 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $310.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.72. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $578.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.78. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie Infrastructure restated an "outperform" rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price target on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.25.

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.

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.