Prudential PLC Sells 5,615 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Prudential PLC lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 223,677 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,615 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.6% of Prudential PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $78,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $565,684,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital started coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $320.06 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $316.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company 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.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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 purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Key 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

Visa Company 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.