Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Key Points

• Franklin Resources increased its Visa stake by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 746,917 more shares and bringing its total holding to 8.84 million shares worth about $3.1 billion.
• Visa reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 versus the $3.10 estimate and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The company’s board authorized a $20 billion share buyback and Visa also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, reflecting continued capital returns to shareholders.

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,843,623 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 746,917 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Franklin Resources Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.49% of Visa worth $3,101,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,884,879 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $984,840,000 after acquiring an additional 60,198 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.1%

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

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on V. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on Visa and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. 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. Finally, Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.78.

More 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

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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