Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 122,070 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its Visa stake by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 122,070 additional shares and bringing its total to 1,665,453 shares worth about $584.2 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $3.31 per share and revenue of $11.23 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations and up 17.1% from a year earlier.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share and a new $20 billion share repurchase authorization, while analysts currently maintain a consensus Buy rating with a target price of $387.67.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,665,453 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 122,070 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.0% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.09% of Visa worth $584,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Visa by 0.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after acquiring an additional 193,288 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Visa by 4.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,114,674 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,475,403,000 after acquiring an additional 530,995 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Visa by 3.3% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,458,913 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,253,224,000 after acquiring an additional 399,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Visa by 12.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,913,505 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,067,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,435 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on V. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.67.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $322.11 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.89. The stock has a market cap of $577.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa News Roundup

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 Transactions at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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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