HughesLittle Investment Management Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

HughesLittle Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 166,271 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,638 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 9.7% of HughesLittle Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. HughesLittle Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $58,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 337,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $118,216,000 after purchasing an additional 101,619 shares during the period. Guardian Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,827,000. Finally, Evergreen Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,617,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa 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 directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. The trade was 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 worth $14,356,010 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on V. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.67.

Visa Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:V opened at $325.42 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $311.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $583.73 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

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.