Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,575 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.5% of Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings 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 during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa News Roundup

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Visa Trading Up 1.2%

V opened at $324.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $316.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.