Franklin Resources Inc. Has $3.10 Billion Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,843,623 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 746,917 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,101,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Visa by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,463,484,000 after acquiring an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,516,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,547,169,000 after acquiring an additional 244,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $5,877,738,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More 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

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

V opened at $324.03 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $316.53 and a 200-day moving average of $324.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 23.34%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Freedom Capital raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.