Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Acquires 120,856 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 49.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 367,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 120,856 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 3.1% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $128,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,884,879 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $984,840,000 after acquiring an additional 60,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Key Visa News

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $324.03 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $316.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.48.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.78.

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.