Phoenix Financial Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. cut its Visa stake by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,518 shares and ending with 66,902 shares valued at about $23.46 million.
• Visa posted a strong quarter, with EPS of $3.31 beating estimates and revenue of $11.23 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 17.1% year over year.
• The company boosted shareholder returns by authorizing a $20 billion stock buyback and declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus Buy rating.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,902 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 5,518 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $23,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Visa by 11.3% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 23,863 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded its Flexible Credential offering in the U.K. with Zilch and Thredd, letting consumers choose among multiple payment options through one card. That supports Visa’s push into more flexible, digital-first payment experiences and could increase network usage. Visa Flexible Credential Brings More Flexible Ways to Pay to Zilch Cardholders in the UK
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted contactless payments, BNPL adoption, and cross-border growth as favorable long-term trends for payment processors like Visa, reinforcing the bullish industry backdrop. 5 Financial Transaction Stocks to Watch Amid Digital Advancements
• Positive Sentiment: Another report pointed to record U.S. consumer spending as a supportive backdrop for fintech and card networks, which can lift Visa’s transaction volumes and fee revenue. U.S. Consumer Spending Tops $21.86T: 5 Fintech Stocks Under $75
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also teamed with FPT AI Factory and InFlow on an agent-native commerce platform, expanding its role in AI-driven commerce and autonomous payments. FPT AI Factory Partners with InFlow and Visa Intelligent Commerce to Launch an Agent-Native Commerce Platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa received additional attention for launching tap-based identity verification with Fidelity Bank Bahamas, a product innovation that supports its payments ecosystem but is not likely to move earnings immediately. Visa launches tap-based identity verification with Fidelity Bank Bahamas
• Negative Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares, cutting his direct stake by more than half. Insider selling can weigh on sentiment even if it does not change the company’s fundamentals. SEC Form 4 filing

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $322.11 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $311.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.89. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $577.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.78. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $387.67.

Visa 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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