Visa Inc. $V is SouthState Bank Corp’s 6th Largest Position

SouthState Bank Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 161,455 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,082 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.5% of SouthState Bank Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. SouthState Bank Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $56,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its stake 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised 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 buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd 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 position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Visa

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Citigroup cut 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. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $324.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $581.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $316.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.49. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. 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 23.34%.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.