Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Applied Finance Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management increased its Visa stake by 123.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 19,221 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 34,775 shares worth about $12.2 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, posting $3.31 EPS on $11.23 billion in revenue, both ahead of estimates, with revenue up 17.1% year over year.
• The company also announced a $20 billion share buyback and a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus Buy rating and average target price of $387.67.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 123.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 34,775 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 19,221 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $12,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 501,893 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $176,019,000 after acquiring an additional 5,398 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 785 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Clarendon Private LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2,615.2% during the fourth quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 45,208 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,855,000 after acquiring an additional 43,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Left Brain Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,391 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,398,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Macquarie Infrastructure reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.67.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $325.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $375.51. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $311.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.89.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for 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 company's revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued 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 is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa 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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