Visa Inc. $V Holdings Trimmed by Townsquare Capital LLC

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC cut its Visa stake by 61.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 11,539 shares and leaving it with 7,130 shares worth about $2.5 million.
• Visa insiders also sold stock: CEO Ryan McInerney and CFO Chris Suh both reduced their holdings through disclosed transactions, even though institutional investors still own most of the company.
• Visa is leaning into AI-driven payments, announcing partnerships with OpenAI and OpenWay to support secure checkout in ChatGPT and broader payment innovation, while legal over swipe fees remains an ongoing concern.

Townsquare Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 61.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,130 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 11,539 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.0% during the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,096,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd boosted its stake in Visa by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 9,447 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 4.9% during the third quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 659 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank OZK boosted its stake in Visa by 3.7% during the third quarter. Bank OZK now owns 858 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the 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 directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to enable secure payments inside ChatGPT and support “agentic commerce,” giving the company a high-profile role in AI-driven shopping and payments. Visa to Secure Payments for Shoppers on ChatGPT in OpenAI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Related coverage says Visa is building infrastructure and card tools for AI shopping, reinforcing the idea that it wants to stay central as merchants and developers adopt AI-powered checkout. How Visa is Designing Smarter Credit Cards for AI Shopping
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also partnered with OpenWay to help banks and fintechs in Asia Pacific launch payment offerings faster, supporting network expansion and innovation across more channels. Can Visa Accelerate Payment Innovation Through OpenWay Tie-up?
• Neutral Sentiment: A judge gave preliminary approval to Visa’s $38 billion swipe-fee settlement with merchants, which may reduce legal uncertainty, but retail groups are still expected to challenge the deal. US judge OKs Visa, Mastercard $38 billion swipe fee settlement
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa’s CFO downplayed the short-term impact of stablecoins and agentic commerce, suggesting management is not yet counting on those themes to materially drive near-term results. Visa’s CFO downplays the importance of stablecoin and agentic commerce
• Negative Sentiment: The recurring merchant-fee headlines highlight ongoing pressure on Visa’s core business model, as investors continue to weigh the risk of lower interchange economics over time. Why there's no end to Visa and Mastercard's fee battles with merchants

Visa Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $323.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $317.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.48. The company has a market cap of $579.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.77. 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 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business'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 earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid 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 currently 23.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

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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