Visa Inc. $V Stock Holdings Lifted by Egerton Capital UK LLP

Key Points

• Egerton Capital UK LLP boosted its Visa stake by 37.2% in Q4, buying 887,626 additional shares and bringing its holding to 3,270,999 shares worth about $1.15 billion.
• Visa reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 versus $3.10 expected and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The company also received generally bullish analyst support, with a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78, though some executives recently sold shares and one rating was downgraded to Hold.

Egerton Capital UK LLP raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 37.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,270,999 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 887,626 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 12.5% of Egerton Capital UK LLP's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Egerton Capital UK LLP owned about 0.18% of Visa worth $1,147,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its stake in Visa by 13.8% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $324.03 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $316.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.48.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company 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 for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Key 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

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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