Prudential PLC Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Prudential PLC reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,677 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,615 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.6% of Prudential PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $78,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.78.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a collaboration with Brale to explore stablecoin-based settlement on the Canton Network, reinforcing its push into blockchain-enabled payments and suggesting the company wants to own the next phase of payment infrastructure rather than be disrupted by it. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Visa’s stablecoin strategy as a potential growth catalyst, with investors interpreting the Brale/Canton proof-of-concept and related coverage as evidence that Visa is expanding into faster, private institutional settlement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also announced leadership appointments in Asia Pacific aimed at scaling value-added services and accelerating Southeast Asia growth, supporting the longer-term revenue opportunity outside core card processing. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage on “pay-by-bank” noted that bank-to-bank payments are gaining some attention, but adoption and consumer trust remain limited, so the competitive threat to Visa appears more theoretical than immediate. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several stories about gold-backed Visa cards and Cuba-related sanctions were mostly brand or geopolitics headlines, with limited direct impact on Visa’s core earnings outlook. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The main bearish theme was the possibility that alternative payment rails and stablecoin platforms could pressure card networks over time, though recent reports suggest Visa may be participating in those solutions rather than losing share to them. Article Title

Visa Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE V opened at $320.06 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $316.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.50. The stock has a market cap of $574.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77.

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

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.