Avise Financial Cooperative Inc. Invests $551,000 in Visa Inc. $V

Avise Financial Cooperative Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,570 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Visa by 110.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after buying an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in Visa by 286.4% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $862,335,000 after buying an additional 1,872,362 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Visa by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,059,990,000 after buying an additional 1,658,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $565,684,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE:V opened at $320.06 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $316.15 and a 200 day moving average of $324.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $574.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly 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. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

More Visa News

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.