Visa Inc. $V Holdings Boosted by Cantillon Capital Management LLC

Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,949,488 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 14,646 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 3.7% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $683,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after purchasing an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,516,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,547,169,000 after purchasing an additional 244,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,877,738,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of V opened at $324.03 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $316.53 and its 200 day moving average is $324.48. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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 report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

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

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.