Argent Advisors Inc. Acquires 4,029 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Argent Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 56.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,211 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,029 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.1% of Argent Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avise Financial Cooperative Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $551,000. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 74,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,229,000 after acquiring an additional 34,158 shares during the last quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE now owns 10,917 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,829,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 1,297 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platform Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $324,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $320.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $574.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $316.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.50. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a collaboration with Brale to explore stablecoin-based settlement on the Canton Network, reinforcing its push into blockchain-enabled payments and suggesting the company wants to own the next phase of payment infrastructure rather than be disrupted by it. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Visa’s stablecoin strategy as a potential growth catalyst, with investors interpreting the Brale/Canton proof-of-concept and related coverage as evidence that Visa is expanding into faster, private institutional settlement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also announced leadership appointments in Asia Pacific aimed at scaling value-added services and accelerating Southeast Asia growth, supporting the longer-term revenue opportunity outside core card processing. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage on “pay-by-bank” noted that bank-to-bank payments are gaining some attention, but adoption and consumer trust remain limited, so the competitive threat to Visa appears more theoretical than immediate. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several stories about gold-backed Visa cards and Cuba-related sanctions were mostly brand or geopolitics headlines, with limited direct impact on Visa’s core earnings outlook. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The main bearish theme was the possibility that alternative payment rails and stablecoin platforms could pressure card networks over time, though recent reports suggest Visa may be participating in those solutions rather than losing share to them. Article Title

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on V. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Loop Capital initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Six 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.78.

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.