Sapient Capital LLC Buys 14,374 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Sapient Capital LLC boosted its Visa stake by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 14,374 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 129,564 shares worth about $45.8 million.
• Visa continues to see broad institutional support, with large holders like Vanguard also increasing positions; overall, institutions own 82.15% of the company.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reported strong revenue growth, and announced both a quarterly dividend and a $20 billion share buyback authorization, signaling continued confidence in its business.

Sapient Capital LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,564 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 14,374 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.6% of Sapient Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $45,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 24.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Visa by 11.3% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,352,766 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $803,187,000 after purchasing an additional 238,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about 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 Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of V opened at $325.42 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm's fifty day moving average is $311.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.74. The stock has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Loop Capital started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $387.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by 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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