Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Daiwa Securities Group raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.25.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $308.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $560.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.80. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $309.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $328.44. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.75 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa 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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sonoma Allocations LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $969,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $281,045,000 after acquiring an additional 159,906 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in Visa by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $198,596,000 after acquiring an additional 14,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 274,141 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $93,586,000 after acquiring an additional 8,061 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets upgraded Visa to “strong‑buy,” which can support buying interest from institutional investors. Zacks
• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched a validator node on the Tempo blockchain and is pressing into stablecoin/chain‑payment infrastructure — a strategic move that positions Visa to capture future crypto payment flows and new fee opportunities. Visa Tempo Blockchain Integration
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain solid: Visa beat fiscal Q1 EPS estimates (reported $3.17 vs. $3.14) and revenue grew ~14.6% year‑over‑year, supporting its high margins and cash-generation profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street published fresh Q2 metric estimates and guidance sensitivity notes for Visa ahead of the April 28 report; these previews keep expectations elevated but also make the stock sensitive to any modest execution misses. Zacks Q2 Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Mastercard (MA) reports next week; a strong print from MA could buoy payment-processor sentiment, while a miss could pressure Visa shares by proxy. Mastercard Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Third parties are expanding Visa-branded products (e.g., Cardano’s new Visa debit card), which signals network reach but offers unclear near‑term economic benefit to Visa itself. Cardano Visa Debit Card
• Neutral Sentiment: Market‑level commentary on Visa’s valuation and long‑term market‑cap narratives (e.g., comparisons to Walmart) is generating debate but not immediate catalytic impact. 247WallSt
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces on whether Visa is “attractively priced” highlight mixed sentiment and could keep trading range-bound until the earnings release. Valuation Article
• Neutral Sentiment: An unrelated government visa-bulletin item (immigration) is being picked up by some feeds but has no material impact on Visa Inc.’s business. Visa Bulletin (immigration)
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts note upside could be capped by higher incentives and costs (marketing, promos, or regulatory/compliance spending) in the quarter — a risk that helps explain some of today’s downside as traders de‑risk before the report. Zacks Earnings Countdown

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.