Visa raises quarterly dividend 16% to $0.780 per share
Key Facts
Visa said on October 27 that its board raised the quarterly cash dividend 16% to $0.780 per share, alongside the release of fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results. The company said in its earnings release that the new dividend will be paid on December 1, 2026, to shareholders of record on November 10. The amount is up from the previous dividend of $0.670 per share, announced on October 28, 2025, according to the investor relations record. The company’s statement did not link the dividend decision to a single reason, instead including it in the financial results announcement.
For the quarter, net revenue was $12.1 billion, up 13% year over year, according to Visa’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said growth in payments volume, cross-border transactions and processed transactions contributed to the revenue increase. Net income under U.S. accounting standards was $6.0 billion, up 18% from the year-earlier quarter. Earnings per share under the same standard rose 22% to $3.19. These results provide an accounting measure separate from the adjusted earnings per share reported by the company in its release.
Adjusted earnings per share, excluding the accounting standard, were $3.48 in the fourth quarter, up 17% year over year, Visa said. Investing.com reported that the result exceeded analysts’ estimate of $3.44 per share. For the fiscal year, the company recorded net revenue of $45.9 billion, up 15% nominally and 14% excluding the effect of foreign exchange movements. The annual results thus combined revenue growth for the year with quarterly increases in net income and earnings per share under U.S. accounting standards. Adjusted earnings and earnings reported under accounting standards remain distinct measures, so the company reported a separate figure for each.
On operating activity, payments volume rose 9% in the fourth quarter year over year on a constant-dollar basis, according to the earnings release. Cross-border payments volume increased 14% on the same basis. Visa also processed 74.2 billion transactions in the three months ended September 30, 2026, up 10% from the same period a year earlier. The company said these indicators, together with growth in processed transaction volumes, supported the increase in quarterly net revenue. In the travel context, Reuters said the World Cup, held from June 11 to July 19, 2026, helped drive activity across Visa’s network, and that cross-border volume excluding intra-Europe rose 14%.
The stock’s reaction did not match the adjusted earnings-per-share result exceeding analysts’ estimates: Reuters reported that Visa shares fell more than 1% in extended trading after the earnings announcement on October 27. Investing.com reported that the stock fell 2.3% in after-hours trading, noting adjusted earnings of $3.48 against an estimate of $3.44. By contrast, the stock was up 14.6% year to date through the previous close, according to Reuters. These moves show the recorded reaction after the announcement alongside the stock’s performance since the start of the year, without changing the activity and revenue figures in the results. No verified comparative prices for the company’s competitors were available in the EL7 data provided.
For fiscal 2027, Visa forecast net revenue growth in the low teens, according to Investing.com. It also forecast adjusted earnings-per-share growth ranging from the low teens to the early teens, the same source reported. The dividend announced with the fiscal 2026 results is scheduled to be paid on December 1, 2026, to shareholders of record on November 10. This places the financial guidance for the coming year and the cash-dividend dates among the next key milestones for investors. The source did not provide a later date in the available information.