J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Sells 2,630 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,899 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,630 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $16,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 target price 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 research note on Monday, February 16th. Bank of America started coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.78.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

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%

Shares of V stock opened at $320.06 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-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 firm has a market capitalization of $574.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $316.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.50.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa 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.