Atria Investments Inc Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Atria Investments Inc reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 163,114 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 12,485 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 0.6% of Atria Investments Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Visa were worth $57,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after acquiring an additional 2,230 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.67.

Visa Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of V opened at $320.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $575.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $311.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $326.07. 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 (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

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

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded its Flexible Credential offering in the U.K. with Zilch and Thredd, allowing consumers to choose among payment options at checkout through one card. That supports Visa’s push into more flexible, digital-first payment experiences and could help drive network usage. Visa Flexible Credential Brings More Flexible Ways to Pay to Zilch Cardholders in the UK
• Positive Sentiment: Visa was highlighted in commentary about strong digital payments trends, with analysts pointing to contactless payments, BNPL adoption, and cross-border growth as long-term tailwinds for the financial transaction sector. 5 Financial Transaction Stocks to Watch Amid Digital Advancements
• Positive Sentiment: Visa continues to be viewed as a beneficiary of strong consumer spending and digital payment growth, with another article noting record U.S. consumption as a favorable backdrop for fintech and card networks. U.S. Consumer Spending Tops $21.86T: 5 Fintech Stocks Under $75
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa received additional attention for rolling out tap-based identity verification with Fidelity Bank Bahamas, another sign of product innovation but not necessarily an immediate earnings catalyst. Visa launches tap-based identity verification with Fidelity Bank Bahamas
• Negative Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares at an average price of $324.81, trimming his ownership by more than half. Insider selling can weigh on sentiment, even if it does not change the company’s fundamentals. SEC Form 4 filing

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last three months. Corporate 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.