Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC Purchases 20,000 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Pacific Heights Asset Management increased its Visa stake by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 20,000 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 85,000 shares worth about $29.8 million.
• Several major institutional investors also added to or established positions in Visa, and 82.15% of the stock is now owned by institutions.
• Analysts remain bullish on Visa, with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $387.67; the company also reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and recently authorized a $20 billion share buyback.

Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 85,000 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.1% of Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $29,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Visa by 24.1% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $281,045,000 after buying an additional 159,906 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Visa by 11.3% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,352,766 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $803,187,000 after buying an additional 238,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased 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 worth $180,088,000 after buying an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.67.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $325.42 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $311.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $583.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often 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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