Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Increases Position in Visa Inc. $V

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 198,162 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,925 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.7% of Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $59,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Visa by 867.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Visa by 12,497.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 48.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 110.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.78.

Visa News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched Visa Destinations, a global travel platform now live in 10 major markets, designed to engage cardholders earlier in the travel journey and deepen use of Visa’s network through curated experiences and exclusive access. Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded Visa Cloud Connect with Mintoak and Thredd in Asia Pacific, which could help fintechs and banks issue cards faster and broaden Visa’s reach in merchant SaaS and cloud-based issuing. Visa (V), Mintoak Partner to Expand Merchant SaaS Offerings Across Asia Pacific
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are highlighting Visa’s new travel push and international expansion efforts as potential future growth drivers, reinforcing the view that Visa can keep monetizing cross-border spending and travel-related activity. Can Visa’s New Travel Play Become Its Next Growth Driver?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent write-ups on Visa’s travel and partner initiatives are largely descriptive, but they underscore investor focus on whether these new products can meaningfully add to growth over time. Visa Explores Travel Planning Space With Visa Destinations
• Neutral Sentiment: One opinion piece argued Visa could be vulnerable to payment disruption, but it did not include new fundamental data and appears to be more of a long-term risk discussion than a near-term catalyst. Visa: May Be Next On The Disruption Hit List

Visa Stock Up 1.9%

V opened at $336.96 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $359.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $323.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.30. 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 has a market cap of $604.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.77.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Visa declared that its board has approved a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.12% of the stock is currently 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.