Visa Inc. $V is CenterBook Partners LP's 5th Largest Position

Key Points

• CenterBook Partners LP cut its Visa stake by 14% in the fourth quarter, but Visa is still its 5th-largest holding at about $30.0 million and 1.5% of the portfolio.
• Visa continues to draw attention for its stablecoin and blockchain initiatives, including a private settlement proof of concept with Brale on the Canton Network and broader industry interest from payments peers.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 and revenue of $11.23 billion both beating estimates, while also authorizing a $20 billion share buyback and maintaining a quarterly dividend.

CenterBook Partners LP lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,614 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 13,891 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.5% of CenterBook Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. CenterBook Partners LP's holdings in Visa were worth $30,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Visa by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Visa by 102.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa is testing private stablecoin settlement with Brale on the Canton Network, a proof of concept aimed at enabling institutional payments with more privacy and efficiency. Investors may see this as evidence that Visa is expanding its payments infrastructure into a potentially high-growth use case. Article: Visa tests private stablecoin settlement with Brale, Canton
• Positive Sentiment: Visa’s new partnership with Brale reinforces its stablecoin strategy and suggests the company is actively building tools for institutional blockchain settlement, which could strengthen long-term growth prospects. Article: How Visa Advances Stablecoin Payment Vision With Brale Partnership?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and others are collaborating on a new stablecoin platform suggest major payments players are validating the opportunity, which may help Visa if the initiative gains merchant traction. Article: Visa Mastercard Stablecoin Push Tests Circle USDC And Rich Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa also announced leadership appointments in Asia Pacific to support value-added services and Southeast Asia growth, a positive operating update but likely not a major near-term stock driver. Article: Visa Announces Asia Pacific Leadership Appointments to Scale Value-Added Services and Southeast Asia Growth
• Negative Sentiment: News that Visa and Mastercard payments are being halted in Cuba adds a small regional headwind, though the revenue impact is likely limited compared with Visa’s overall global business. Article: Visa, Mastercard payments to be halted in Cuba amid new US sanctions

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.78.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of V opened at $324.03 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $316.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.