Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 55,185 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,414,787 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,185 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.2% of Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Visa worth $729,845,000 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 the company. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at about $366,000. Owlhouse Capital LP boosted its stake in Visa by 44.9% in the first quarter. Owlhouse Capital LP now owns 23,302 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,043,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 168.1% during the first quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,470 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after acquiring an additional 5,311 shares during the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.7% during the first quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 92,087 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $27,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Global Management LP raised its stake in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the first quarter. Delta Global Management LP now owns 7,476 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,260,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about 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.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 Visa 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:V opened at $355.29 on Monday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $337.58 and a 200 day moving average of $325.14. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors 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 payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Finally, Clear Str upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $399.41.

Visa Company Profile

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.