Visa Inc. $V Stake Lowered by Bell Bank

Key Points

• Bell Bank reduced its Visa stake by 22% in the third quarter, selling 3,848 shares and retaining 13,665 shares valued at approximately $4.91 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 82.15% of Visa.
• Visa reported quarterly revenue of $11.63 billion and EPS of $3.32, exceeding analyst expectations, while revenue increased 14.4% year over year. Shares traded near their 52-week high at about $408, and analysts maintained an overall “Buy” rating with an average $426.12 price target.
• Visa is pursuing growth through AI-enabled business payments, fraud-prevention tools and cryptocurrency spending partnerships, though regulatory scrutiny and pressure on interchange fees remain risks to its pricing power and valuation.

Bell Bank lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 22.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,665 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,848 shares during the period. Bell Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $4,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. XXEC Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 153,118.8% in the second quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $63,904,097,000 after buying an additional 186,138,883 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,872,209 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $28,432,626,000 after acquiring an additional 566,194 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,720,068 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,393,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808,496 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,842,842 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,672,655,000 after acquiring an additional 316,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,714,919 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,646,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,315 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven business payments: Visa launched a live pilot with BILL Holdings and Billtrust that allows authenticated AI agents to initiate and complete approved invoice payments through supplier portals. The initiative could help Visa capture more high-value business-to-business transactions while reducing reliance on checks and legacy payment processes. Visa Launches Agentic Payments Pilot With BILL and Billtrust
• Positive Sentiment: Fraud prevention and commercial-card tools: New capabilities for virtual commercial cards are designed to improve transaction security, authentication and corporate payment controls. These products may support growth in Visa’s commercial payments and value-added services businesses. Visa Debuts Tools to Keep Fraud Out of Virtual Commercial Card Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto and stablecoin reach: Visa’s partnership with Mesh is intended to let users spend eligible cryptocurrency and stablecoin balances at more than 175 million Visa-accepting locations without first using a separate crypto card. Although rollout details remain limited, the arrangement could increase payment volume and reinforce Visa’s role as digital assets enter mainstream commerce. Visa Starts AI Agent Pilot for Business Payments
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings and valuation are key near-term tests: Analysts expect continued earnings growth following Visa’s latest revenue and EPS beat, while investors will look for guidance and a potential dividend increase in the October 27 report. However, the stock’s premium valuation—around 35 times earnings—leaves less room for disappointment. Visa Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Negative Sentiment: Fee and regulatory pressure: Canadian merchants are urging card networks to reduce interchange fees, and Visa is changing certain Canadian fees. Broader merchant resistance, antitrust scrutiny and potential U.S. credit-card competition legislation remain risks to Visa’s pricing power and future valuation multiples. Visa Changes Fees in Canada

Visa Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of V stock opened at $408.02 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $375.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $348.85. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $409.53. The company has a market capitalization of $728.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $375.00 to $422.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Clear Str raised Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-four have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $426.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.81, for a total transaction of $2,108,008.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,444,582.94. The trade was a 27.91% 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. Insiders sold a total of 78,792 shares of company stock valued at $28,863,319 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc NYSE: V is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic payments between consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments. Through its VisaNet network, the company authorizes, clears and settles transactions made with Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, while generally not issuing cards, extending credit or setting cardholder account terms.

Visa provides payment products and services for consumer, commercial and government payments, as well as digital commerce and money movement.

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