Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires 123,313 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 27.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 567,139 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 123,313 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.7% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Visa were worth $200,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 110.4% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in Visa by 286.4% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $862,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,362 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,059,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Visa in the third quarter worth $565,684,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa is testing private stablecoin settlement with Brale on the Canton Network, a proof of concept aimed at enabling institutional payments with more privacy and efficiency. Investors may see this as evidence that Visa is expanding its payments infrastructure into a potentially high-growth use case. Article: Visa tests private stablecoin settlement with Brale, Canton
• Positive Sentiment: Visa’s new partnership with Brale reinforces its stablecoin strategy and suggests the company is actively building tools for institutional blockchain settlement, which could strengthen long-term growth prospects. Article: How Visa Advances Stablecoin Payment Vision With Brale Partnership?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and others are collaborating on a new stablecoin platform suggest major payments players are validating the opportunity, which may help Visa if the initiative gains merchant traction. Article: Visa Mastercard Stablecoin Push Tests Circle USDC And Rich Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa also announced leadership appointments in Asia Pacific to support value-added services and Southeast Asia growth, a positive operating update but likely not a major near-term stock driver. Article: Visa Announces Asia Pacific Leadership Appointments to Scale Value-Added Services and Southeast Asia Growth
• Negative Sentiment: News that Visa and Mastercard payments are being halted in Cuba adds a small regional headwind, though the revenue impact is likely limited compared with Visa’s overall global business. Article: Visa, Mastercard payments to be halted in Cuba amid new US sanctions

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Freedom Capital raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Six equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78.

Visa Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE V opened at $324.03 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.48. The company has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. 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.

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

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.