Visa Inc. $V Stock Bought by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,651 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,590 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 7,165 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,575,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 17,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Financial Group Inc. now owns 756 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,569 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Trust raised its position in Visa by 0.3% during the third quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 35,551 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,775,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $410.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Visa from $440.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of Visa from $430.00 to $444.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $440.00 price objective on Visa in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $443.35.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

These are some of the V headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT Wallet, allowing AI agents to make purchases using existing cards, including Visa, with users approving transactions. This could create a new commerce channel for card payments, but the rollout is early and its scale is uncertain. OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT Wallet
• Neutral Sentiment: UQPAY received Visa Associate Membership in Australia, enabling it to build card-issuing capabilities there. This supports Visa’s regional network, but the report gives no indication of near-term revenue impact. UQPAY secures Visa membership in Australia
• Negative Sentiment: Visa insider Paul Fabara sold 3,401 shares, reducing his direct holding by 9.11%. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which may make it a less meaningful signal about the company’s outlook. Visa insider trading information

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 3,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.09, for a total transaction of $1,438,929.09. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 33,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,348,251.17. This represents a 9.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,663 shares of company stock valued at $12,634,720. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded up $5.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $425.55. The stock had a trading volume of 4,640,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,084,294. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $390.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $347.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $759.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.80. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $442.23.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. The company had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s payout ratio is 25.30%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.