Lazard Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,414,787 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,185 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.2% of Lazard Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $729,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 446.2% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $355.29 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $337.58 and its 200 day moving average is $325.14. The company has a market cap of $637.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given 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 23.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial raised its price target on Visa to $394 from $371 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling more upside as analysts remain constructive on the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa, adding to the bullish analyst momentum around the company’s earnings outlook and business fundamentals.
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports suggest Visa could deliver another “business as usual” earnings beat next week, supported by resilient consumer credit demand, strong payment volumes, and ongoing digital payments growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also continues to announce new partnerships, including embedded-finance and agentic-commerce initiatives with Airwallex and Lianlian, which highlight continued expansion opportunities in business-to-business and next-generation payments.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary comparing Visa and Mastercard favorably to American Express after AMEX’s post-earnings selloff may be helping keep Visa steady, but it is more of an industry read-through than a company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa is also drawing attention as a “wide-moat” stock, reflecting its durable competitive position, though that is mainly a long-term quality argument rather than a fresh near-term driver.

About Visa

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.