Hartford Financial Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,061 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,856 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.2% of Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Visa by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,718 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 113,419 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $38,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $8,692,000. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.7% in the third quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,849 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVZ Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 4,154 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a strategic partnership to integrate stablecoin payouts into Visa Direct (enabling pre-funded cross-border stablecoin payouts to wallets), expanding its money-movement product suite and potential fee/volume opportunities. BVNK to Deliver Stablecoin Infrastructure for Visa Direct Pilot Programs
• Positive Sentiment: Visa says its stablecoin settlement volumes are growing (annualized run rate reported ~ $4.5B), showing traction in crypto-linked settlement that could open new revenue streams and help future-proof cross-border flows. Visa crypto chief bets on stablecoin settlement, sees volumes growing
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts and outlets argue Visa is well-positioned long term despite 2026 policy noise; coverage ranges from buy/hold analysis to macro outlook pieces that temper immediate alarm. Visa: No Fear Of Credit Card Caps, Visa Well Positioned
• Negative Sentiment: UK High Court ruled the U.K. Payment Systems Regulator can cap cross-border interchange fees — a direct regulatory threat to card economics in a major market and a catalyst for downward pressure on merchant-fee-related revenue. Mastercard, Visa and Revolut lose UK case over proposed cross-border card fees cap
• Negative Sentiment: Broader political risk: proposals to cap credit-card interest rates in the U.S. and related headline risk have pressured card stocks this week, raising uncertainty about future pricing/policy that could hit interchange and interest-related revenues. Bank Execs Say Trump’s Credit-Card Interest Rate Idea Is Bad for Consumers—and Business

Visa Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of V stock opened at $327.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $596.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.81. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $339.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $343.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The business had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,247,289. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on V. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $402.52.

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.