Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing 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 quarter. Visa accounts for about 3.1% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $128,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 110.4% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,289 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in Visa by 286.4% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $862,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872,362 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,059,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $565,684,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was 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 $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting 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

Visa Stock Performance

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

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 23.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.