Cypress Capital Group Reduces Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Cypress Capital Group reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 64,703 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,446 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 2.2% of Cypress Capital Group’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its stake in Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 30.1% in the fourth 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. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,966,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $387.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $399.41.

Key Visa News

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.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $355.29 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $365.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $637.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $325.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

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 firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

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.