Xcel Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Xcel Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 36.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,422 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Xcel Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Topsail Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,202 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,177,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych lifted its position in Visa by 21.4% during the first quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 3,400 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 3.7% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 36,480 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the first quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,226 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 64.4% during the first quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 1,192 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE V opened at $336.96 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $359.66. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $323.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $604.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched Visa Destinations, a global travel platform now live in 10 major markets, designed to engage cardholders earlier in the travel journey and deepen use of Visa’s network through curated experiences and exclusive access. Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded Visa Cloud Connect with Mintoak and Thredd in Asia Pacific, which could help fintechs and banks issue cards faster and broaden Visa’s reach in merchant SaaS and cloud-based issuing. Visa (V), Mintoak Partner to Expand Merchant SaaS Offerings Across Asia Pacific
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are highlighting Visa’s new travel push and international expansion efforts as potential future growth drivers, reinforcing the view that Visa can keep monetizing cross-border spending and travel-related activity. Can Visa’s New Travel Play Become Its Next Growth Driver?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent write-ups on Visa’s travel and partner initiatives are largely descriptive, but they underscore investor focus on whether these new products can meaningfully add to growth over time. Visa Explores Travel Planning Space With Visa Destinations
• Neutral Sentiment: One opinion piece argued Visa could be vulnerable to payment disruption, but it did not include new fundamental data and appears to be more of a long-term risk discussion than a near-term catalyst. Visa: May Be Next On The Disruption Hit List

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.78.

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.