Pacer Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 31.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 106,886 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 48,903 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Visa by 867.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,880,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 29,706.3% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,216,310,000 after acquiring an additional 7,308,345 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Visa by 12,497.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,184,712,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $365.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $656.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.74. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $373.97. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $325.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.79%.

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

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa agreed to acquire BioCatch for approximately $2.4 billion in cash. BioCatch uses behavioral biometrics, including typing patterns, touchscreen behavior and device handling, to identify account takeovers, scams, money-mule activity and application fraud before transactions occur. The deal should strengthen Visa’s fraud, cybersecurity and risk-management offerings as AI-enabled scams become more sophisticated. Visa to buy cybersecurity firm BioCatch for $2.4 billion amid surge in AI-powered scams
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding its payment ecosystem through GCash, which plans to introduce card-linking capabilities with Visa and Mastercard. The rollout could improve consumer payment convenience and support transaction growth in the Philippines. GCash to expand payment options with Visa and Mastercard card linking
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa continues to promote controls and data governance for “agentic” artificial-intelligence systems. The initiative supports long-term opportunities in AI-enabled commerce, although it does not represent a near-term financial catalyst. Visa Says the Agentic Enterprise Starts With Better Controls
• Neutral Sentiment: Predictions that AI-powered cryptocurrency payments will become mainstream could eventually create new transaction opportunities for Visa, but the outlook is speculative and Ethereum-based adoption is not an immediate earnings driver. Tom Lee Predicts AI-Powered Crypto Payments Will Go Mainstream in Under Five Years
• Negative Sentiment: Elon Musk’s X Money is adding debit cards and money-transfer features, increasing competition for Visa in digital payments. The potential impact remains uncertain because the service is initially limited to select users. Elon Musk introduces money transfer service to social media app X
• Negative Sentiment: The BioCatch transaction requires a substantial cash outlay, which may pressure near-term returns if the acquisition takes time to generate meaningful revenue or cost synergies. A reported sale of 57,272 Visa shares by an insider may also weigh modestly on sentiment. Tullier Kelly Mahon Sells 57,272 Shares of Visa Stock

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $430.00 target price (up from $394.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $427.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total value of $20,902,561.84. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,398 shares of company stock worth $35,831,433. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.