Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases 11,207 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 244.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,787 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,207 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Empirical Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1.6% in the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Interchange Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its position in Visa by 2.4% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,290 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Define Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the third quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 779 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $307.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $557.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $334.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $338.56. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $299.00 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.75 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Visa’s payout ratio is 25.14%.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa expands in Argentina — the company agreed to acquire Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay to bring local processing infrastructure in‑house and roll out tokenization/biometric tools, supporting Latin American growth prospects. Visa Deepens Argentina Roots
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying fundamentals remain supportive — Visa recently beat on revenue and EPS, holds strong margins and ROE, and continues to generate high free cash flow, which investors treat as a stabilizer versus cyclical headlines. (Quarterly results released Jan. 29.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Europe is evaluating ways to reduce reliance on Visa/Mastercard — discussions about alternative settlement rails in the UK and eurozone are developing but face structural and political hurdles; a long‑term risk to interchange and network economics if alternatives scale. Is Europe ready to reduce reliance on Visa and Mastercard?
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive landscape commentary — analyst pieces contrast Visa with fast‑growing BNPL/digital players like Affirm and debate PayPal’s strategic options; these highlight potential upside for challengers but don’t immediately undercut Visa’s core network economics. Visa vs Affirm
• Negative Sentiment: AI routing scare hit the sector — a Citrini Research scenario about AI agents routing payments around card networks sparked heavy selling across payments firms, pressuring Visa and peers on concerns over future processing fee erosion. AI scenario spooked payments sector
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory setback in Mexico — Mexico’s antitrust regulator blocked Visa’s proposed controlling stake in Prosa, signaling tougher review of market consolidation and data/competition concerns in an important growth market. Mexico blocks Visa-Prosa acquisition
• Negative Sentiment: Merchant fee pressure risk — reports from other markets (e.g., New Zealand) show retailers warning that bans on card surcharges could push prices higher and squeeze merchant economics, which would indirectly pressure network/processor fee dynamics over time. NZ retailers warn on surcharge ban

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $391.43.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa 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.