Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its stake in Visa by 1.2%, selling 4,963 shares and leaving it with 416,733 shares valued at about $146.15 million at quarter end.
• Visa beat quarterly expectations with $3.31 EPS (vs. $3.10) and $11.23 billion revenue (up 17.1% YoY), while its board authorized a $20 billion buyback and declared a $0.67 quarterly dividend.
• Strategic growth initiatives include expanding a stablecoin settlement pilot to nine blockchains at an estimated ~$7 billion annualized run‑rate and rolling out an "Agentic Ready" program to capture AI‑initiated commerce.

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 416,733 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 4,963 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Visa were worth $146,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Sonoma Allocations LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $710,000. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its stake in Visa by 2.6% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $198,596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 24.1% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong momentum and analyst support — Coverage pieces are calling Visa a momentum name after solid fundamentals and style‑score metrics that favor growth stocks; UBS and other houses have lifted targets, adding buy‑side pressure. Why Visa is a Top Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Stablecoin settlement expansion — Visa has broadened its stablecoin pilot to nine blockchains and says settlement volume is at roughly a $7B annualized run‑rate, which increases optionality for non‑bank settlement rails and could accelerate new payment flows. This supports growth and diversification of revenue sources. Visa Expands Stablecoin Pilot
• Positive Sentiment: Agentic/AI payments roll‑out — Visa is scaling its "Agentic Ready" program across APAC/LatAm to capture volume from AI agent‑initiated commerce; if Visa secures the rails for agent payments, it protects future fee pools. Visa Launches Agentic Ready
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto‑card volume accelerating — On‑chain crypto card spending has surged (reports cite a ~500% rise to ~$600M/month) with Visa capturing the lion’s share of that flow, highlighting near‑term volume upside. Crypto Card Spending Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend and buyback mix — Visa declared a $0.67 quarterly dividend and authorized a $20B repurchase (about 3.6% of shares). Both return capital and signal management confidence, but buybacks can be perceived differently depending on valuation and timing. Insider Filing / Company Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer results and sector noise — Mastercard also reported strong results but its stock moved differently, showing the sector can react idiosyncratically to similar beats; investors are weighing valuation vs. durable growth. Mastercard Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale by the CEO — CEO Ryan McInerney sold 31,455 shares (executed under a 10b5‑1 plan), cutting his holdings substantially; even planned sales can spook investors and add short‑term selling pressure. SEC Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and structural risks — European moves (digital euro debate) and the rise of alternative rails/agentic commerce raise the prospect that some flows could bypass traditional card economics over time, creating execution and margin risks that keep some investors cautious. Europe Digital Euro Debate

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on V. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure restated an "outperform" rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.25.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $328.43 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $310.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $596.16 billion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 12.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid 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 is 25.14%.

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In other 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 owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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