Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Castleark Management LLC

Castleark Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 153,826 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 16,652 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.5% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $46,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on V. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $387.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $399.41.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

V opened at $355.29 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $637.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $337.58 and its 200-day moving average is $325.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding 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 often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories 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.