Hilltop Holdings Inc. Decreases Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Hilltop Holdings sharply reduced its Visa stake by 74.7% in the first quarter, selling 42,041 shares and leaving it with 14,219 shares valued at about $4.3 million.
• Visa continues to draw bullish analyst support, with firms like Truist, BNP Paribas Exane, and others raising targets or upgrading the stock; the consensus rating remains Buy with an average price target near $399.41.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also announced a $20 billion share buyback plus a quarterly dividend, reinforcing confidence in its financial strength.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 74.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,219 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 42,041 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $4,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th 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 period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its stake in Visa by 4.6% in the 1st 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 period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in 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 valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in Visa by 13.8% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $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.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial raised its price target on Visa to $394 from $371 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling more upside as analysts remain constructive on the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa, adding to the bullish analyst momentum around the company’s earnings outlook and business fundamentals.
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports suggest Visa could deliver another “business as usual” earnings beat next week, supported by resilient consumer credit demand, strong payment volumes, and ongoing digital payments growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also continues to announce new partnerships, including embedded-finance and agentic-commerce initiatives with Airwallex and Lianlian, which highlight continued expansion opportunities in business-to-business and next-generation payments.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary comparing Visa and Mastercard favorably to American Express after AMEX’s post-earnings selloff may be helping keep Visa steady, but it is more of an industry read-through than a company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa is also drawing attention as a “wide-moat” stock, reflecting its durable competitive position, though that is mainly a long-term quality argument rather than a fresh near-term driver.

Visa Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE V opened at $355.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $637.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business 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 was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.34%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $399.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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