Banco Santander S.A. Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Banco Santander S.A. raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 267,065 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,038 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.7% of Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $93,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Visa by 110.4% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,396,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,289 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Visa by 286.4% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $862,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,362 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Visa by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,059,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,954 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $565,684,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $321.98 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $363.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $577.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $318.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.78.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa unveiled a major partnership with OpenAI to embed its payment network into ChatGPT, allowing AI agents to shop and complete purchases with user permission. This positions Visa to stay central to the next phase of digital commerce and could open a new payment channel. Visa Partners with OpenAI to Power the Next Generation of AI Commerce
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also announced new AI, tokenization, and stablecoin settlement tools for programmable commerce, signaling that management is investing to defend its competitive moat and adapt to faster-moving payment rails. Visa Launches AI and Stablecoin Tools to Power Agentic Commerce
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent commentary pieces highlight Visa’s earnings growth, balance-sheet strength, and its expanding role in AI-driven commerce, which may be reinforcing investor confidence in the stock. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Visa (V) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: One report noted that Cuba’s central bank will suspend all Visa and Mastercard transactions after a processing partnership collapsed due to U.S. sanctions. The direct financial impact appears limited, but it is a reminder of Visa’s exposure to geopolitical and sanctions-related disruptions. Cuba’s Central Bank to Suspend all Visa (V) and Mastercard Transactions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern also surfaced around stablecoins, with Bill Gurley saying Visa and Mastercard are “heavily threatened” by them. That reinforces the market’s view that next-generation payment technologies could pressure long-term card network economics if adoption accelerates. Bill Gurley says Visa, and Mastercard are “heavily threatened” by stablecoins

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.