Credit card giant Visa (V) has announced that it will increase its dividend payment to stockholders by 16% following strong financial results that topped Wall Street forecasts.
Going forward, Visa will pay its shareholders a quarterly dividend of $0.52 U.S. per share, giving it a yield of 0.9%.
The dividend increase comes as Visa reported fiscal fourth quarter results that were driven higher due to a continued rebound in spending on international travel.
The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.33 U.S., which was better than the $2.25 U.S. consensus estimate among analysts, and up 21% from the same quarter of 2022.
Revenue in the quarter was $8.6 billion U.S., up 11% from a year ago and matching Wall Street estimates.
Visa also reported free cash flow of $6.6 billion U.S., which was well above the $4.7 billion U.S. that was expected by analysts.
Visa’s cross-border payments volume increased 21% year-over-year in the quarter, with the company processing $3.2 billion U.S. of credit and debit card transactions in the period.
In terms of guidance, Visa said it expects “high single-digit to low double-digit” revenue growth and “low-teens” earnings growth over its next fiscal year.
Visa bought back $4.1 billion U.S. of its own stock in the just completed quarter. The company also announced a new $25 billion U.S. share buyback program.
The stock of Visa has risen 13% this year and currently trades at $234.65 U.S. per share.
