Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Key Points

• Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its Visa stake by 92% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 128,061 shares valued at about $38.7 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Visa, with an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $399.41. Recent analyst moves include higher targets and upgrades from firms such as Truist, BNP Paribas Exane, and UBS.
• Visa posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also announcing a $20 billion share buyback and continuing its regular dividend. The company’s stock was trading near its 52-week high as momentum stayed positive.

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 92.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 128,061 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 61,346 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund's holdings in Visa were worth $38,705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% during 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 buying an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,216,310,000 after buying an additional 7,308,345 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in shares of Visa by 12,497.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,184,712,000 after buying an additional 3,351,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 48.2% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Clear Str upgraded Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $399.41.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial raised its price target on Visa to $394 from $371 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling more upside as analysts remain constructive on the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa, adding to the bullish analyst momentum around the company’s earnings outlook and business fundamentals.
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports suggest Visa could deliver another “business as usual” earnings beat next week, supported by resilient consumer credit demand, strong payment volumes, and ongoing digital payments growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also continues to announce new partnerships, including embedded-finance and agentic-commerce initiatives with Airwallex and Lianlian, which highlight continued expansion opportunities in business-to-business and next-generation payments.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary comparing Visa and Mastercard favorably to American Express after AMEX’s post-earnings selloff may be helping keep Visa steady, but it is more of an industry read-through than a company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa is also drawing attention as a “wide-moat” stock, reflecting its durable competitive position, though that is mainly a long-term quality argument rather than a fresh near-term driver.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.0%

Visa stock opened at $355.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $337.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.34. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $365.14. The stock has a market cap of $637.31 billion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Visa declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is 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.

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