Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Merit Financial Group LLC

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group raised its stake in Visa by 9.5% in Q4, acquiring an additional 7,737 shares to hold 89,023 shares valued at about $31.22 million.
• Analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" on Visa with a $388.88 average price target, though several firms have trimmed targets recently (e.g., UBS to $390 and Citigroup to $400).
• Visa beat Q4 estimates with $3.17 EPS (vs. $3.14 est.) and $10.90B revenue (vs. $10.69B est.), has a ~$576B market cap, and pays a $0.67 quarterly dividend (≈0.8% yield).

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,023 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 7,737 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $31,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sonoma Allocations LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $710,000. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $969,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $198,596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 274,141 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $93,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,061 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Visa from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Macquarie Infrastructure reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $388.88.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: payabl. and Visa expand Click to Pay adoption — tokenized, one‑click checkout is positioned to raise authorization rates, reduce fraud and boost merchant volumes (benefits to Visa’s network fees and authorization revenue). payabl. launches Click-to-Pay with Visa
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights Click to Pay potential at scale — analysis notes that broader adoption of tokenized checkout could lift approvals and merchant sales, supporting volume growth. Can Visa's Click to Pay Push Fix Checkout Friction at Scale?
• Positive Sentiment: Visa runs a validator on the Tempo blockchain — moving from partner to active infrastructure participant for stablecoin settlement could open new rails for real‑time payment volumes and strategic advantage in crypto payments. Visa’s Tempo Validator Move Brings Stablecoin Infrastructure Into Investor Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/market commentary frames the pullback as a buying opportunity — pieces highlighting Visa’s quality business and long‑term growth thesis can support demand from value‑oriented investors. Visa (V) Lags the Market, but the Pullback Looks Like a Buying Opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks reiterates Visa as a strong growth stock — research notes solid fundamentals, margin profile and revenue growth that underpin medium‑term earnings estimates. Here's Why Visa (V) is a Strong Growth Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Small institutional buying disclosed — BCS Wealth Management increased its stake modestly in Q4; notable for ownership trends but not a material shift. BCS Wealth Management Has $1.28 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative analyst pieces weigh Visa vs. peers (Corpay, Block, Mastercard) — useful context on valuation and growth tradeoffs but mixed signals on which stock is the better buy. CPAY vs. V: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer comparison coverage (Visa vs. Block) highlights scale vs. faster growth at rivals — informs relative positioning but not an immediate directional catalyst. Visa vs. Block: Which Payments Powerhouse Stock Is a Better Bet?
• Negative Sentiment: Citigroup trims Visa price target to $400 — a downward revision from a prior target can weigh on sentiment even if the target remains above current levels; reflects more cautious near‑term expectations. Citigroup Cuts Visa NYSE: V Price Target to $400.00

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

V opened at $317.33 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $311.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $329.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $576.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.80. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm's revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

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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