Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its Visa stake by 5.4% in the first quarter, selling 230,842 shares. It still held more than 4.08 million shares, valued at about $1.23 billion, making Visa its 18th-largest holding.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $3.31 topping estimates and revenue rising 17.1% year over year to $11.23 billion. The company also authorized a $20 billion share buyback and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share.
• Recent commentary around Visa is mixed: analysts remain broadly bullish, but some investors are worried about fee compression and alternative payment rails, including stablecoins and bank-built debit networks. At the same time, Visa is pushing into AI-driven “agentic commerce” and other new payment use cases.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,083,557 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 230,842 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Visa worth $1,234,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in Visa by 867.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,880,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,216,310,000 after acquiring an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in shares of Visa by 12,497.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after buying an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding its payments ecosystem through AI-driven “agentic commerce” pilots, including a live proof-of-concept where a Visa-linked purchase was completed inside an AI agent workflow. That suggests Visa is positioning itself for new transaction volume as commerce shifts toward AI assistants. Visa (V) Tests AI Agent Payments in Live Commerce Proof of Concept
• Positive Sentiment: Givebutter launched built-in Visa spend cards for nonprofits, showing continued adoption of Visa-branded payment products in niche use cases and supporting network usage growth. Givebutter Becomes the First Fundraising and CRM Platform to Offer Built-In Visa Spend Cards, Closing the Gap Between Fundraising and Impact
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentaries highlighted Visa as a growth-oriented financial transaction stock, citing AI initiatives, improving earnings estimates, and its multi-rail payments strategy as potential long-term catalysts. Buy 5 Financial Transaction Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa remains a strong player in a rapidly changing payments landscape, but the latest commentary mainly rehashed its strengths and weaknesses rather than pointing to a clear near-term catalyst. Visa: A Strong Player in a Disruptive Payments Landscape
• Negative Sentiment: Visa is facing renewed investor concern about structural pressure on its fee model. A report on Fiserv’s STAR network talks raised the possibility that large banks could build their own debit rails to bypass fee caps and reduce reliance on Visa and Mastercard. Fiserv’s Debit Network Talks Raise a Bigger Question for Visa and Mastercard
• Negative Sentiment: Another report argued that Visa’s multi-front challenges include settlement-related fee compression, stablecoin competition, and other alternative payment rails, all of which could weigh on margins and sentiment. Can Visa's Multi-Rail Payments Strategy Drive Long-Term Growth?

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $347.57 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $330.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $324.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $623.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on V. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Visa from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $397.91.

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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