Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded at Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore set a $380.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.21.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $320.63 on Monday. Visa has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $581.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $337.50 and a 200 day moving average of $339.24.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The company’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.75 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.14%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This trade represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $395,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 327,629 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $114,706,000 after acquiring an additional 6,446 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Visa by 595.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 7,737 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,624 shares during the period. Blue Chip Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 90,576 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skyview Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $2,250,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa gains traction in stablecoin and crypto payouts through partnerships and network expansions—this extends Visa Direct use cases and supports fee-bearing volume growth. Visa Helps Wirex Provide Stablecoin Payments for BaaS Clients
• Positive Sentiment: Visa’s principal-membership adoption by European e‑money firms enables stablecoin‑linked debit cards, broadening card-rail usage for crypto-backed balances in Europe. This can boost transaction volumes and issuer fees. Quantoz gains Visa nod to issue stablecoin-linked debit cards in Europe
• Positive Sentiment: Banqup partnership: Visa will power integrated e‑invoicing and e‑payment solutions in Europe (Visa Direct/Commercial Solutions), supporting B2B payments growth and higher-value commercial flows. Banqup and Visa enter strategic partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Regional expansion: Visa created a North Africa sub‑region (Egypt, Libya, Sudan) to accelerate digital payment adoption — a strategic growth move into underpenetrated markets. Visa Launches North Africa Sub-Region
• Positive Sentiment: Macro tailwind: Olympic-related travel/spending in Italy is lifting cross‑border and card volume in the region, which benefits Visa’s interchange revenue. Olympics boost spending in Italy; UK banks push Visa, Mastercard rival
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment: Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from “hold” to “strong-buy,” which can attract buyer interest and support multiple expansion. Zacks – Freedom Capital upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context: Zacks highlights Visa among five transaction stocks to watch—cross‑border and e‑commerce growth offset higher tech/expense pressures; useful for relative positioning but not a direct catalyst. 5 Financial Transaction Stocks to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail/investor interest: Zacks notes increased searches on Visa, signaling heightened attention that can amplify moves but doesn’t change fundamentals. Investors Heavily Search Visa Inc.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market noise: A MarketBeat piece on AI infrastructure (Vertiv) is driving sector rotation into AI‑infrastructure names; this is a broader market theme and only indirectly relevant to Visa. Vertiv’s $15 Billion Backlog Is the Loudest AI Signal in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/regulatory risk: Several U.K. banks are exploring a domestic alternative to Visa and Mastercard amid geopolitical concerns — an early-stage initiative that could pressure long-term market share or interchange in the U.K. if it advances. Monitor developments for timing and regulatory reaction. UK bank bosses plan Visa/Mastercard alternative British Banks Push For UK Alternative to Visa and Mastercard Banks to discuss UK alternative

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.