Macquarie Group Ltd. Has $110.94 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Macquarie Group Ltd. sharply cut its Visa stake in the fourth quarter, selling 1.76 million shares and reducing its holdings by 84.7%. It still owned 316,320 shares valued at about $110.94 million at quarter-end.
• Visa continues to attract strong institutional ownership, with hedge funds and other investors holding 82.15% of the company. Several firms, including Vanguard and PNC Financial Services, increased their positions during the period.
• Analysts remain bullish on Visa, with a consensus rating of “Buy” and a price target of $387.78. The company also topped earnings estimates last quarter and approved a $20 billion share buyback.

Macquarie Group Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 84.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 316,320 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,756,558 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $110,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $180,088,000 after buying an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 2.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,884,879 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $984,840,000 after buying an additional 60,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $10,143,000 after buying an additional 6,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Visa

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related 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 value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Six equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $321.98 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $318.69 and a 200-day moving average of $324.40. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $363.01. The company has a market capitalization of $577.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 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 business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

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.

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