Visa Inc. $V Stock Position Lifted by S&CO Inc.

Key Points

• S&CO Inc. increased its Visa stake by 35% in the fourth quarter, buying 8,163 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 31,498 shares worth about $11.0 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.31 versus estimates of $3.10 and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The company also announced a $20 billion share repurchase program and a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus Buy rating.

S&CO Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 35.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,498 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 8,163 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $11,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Visa by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Visa by 102.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on V. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $160.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.67.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

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

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $325.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $311.20 and a 200-day moving average of $325.89. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $375.51. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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