A Decade of Rewards: $134 Bil From Visa Stock
In the last decade, Visa (V) stock has returned an impressive $134 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, V stock has returned the 13th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| V | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $27 Bil | $4.6 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $107 Bil | $5.6 Bil |
| Total Returned | $134 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 23.1% | 25.1% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $874 Bil | 23.5% | $143 Bil | $731 Bil |
| MSFT | $376 Bil | 13.6% | $172 Bil | $204 Bil |
| GOOGL | $364 Bil | 10.4% | $17 Bil | $346 Bil |
| XOM | $224 Bil | 31.9% | $148 Bil | $76 Bil |
| WFC | $214 Bil | 86.4% | $58 Bil | $156 Bil |
| JPM | $188 Bil | 23.5% | $0.0 | $188 Bil |
| META | $184 Bil | 12.3% | $10 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JNJ | $160 Bil | 28.3% | $106 Bil | $54 Bil |
| ORCL | $158 Bil | 37.5% | $35 Bil | $123 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 39.1% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for V. (see Buy or Sell Visa Stock for more details.)
Visa Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 12.5% LTM and 11.1% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 55.4% free cash flow margin and 67.0% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for V was 10.3%.
- Valuation: Visa stock trades at a P/E multiple of 28.0
| V | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Financials | – |
| Industry | Transaction & Payment Processing Services | – |
| PE Ratio | 28.0 | 23.6 |
|
|
||
| LTM* Revenue Growth | 12.5% | 6.6% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 11.1% | 5.5% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 10.3% | 0.4% |
|
|
||
| LTM* Operating Margin | 67.0% | 18.7% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 66.8% | 18.2% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 55.4% | 14.3% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives a good overview of what you get from V stock, but what about the risk?
V Historical Risk
Visa isn’t immune to big hits. It fell about 52% during the Global Financial Crisis and dropped 36% in the Covid selloff. The 2018 correction wiped nearly 19%, while the inflation shock dragged it down around 29%. Even solid companies like Visa can take a hit when the market turns, showing that no stock is completely safe from sharp pullbacks.
But the risk is not limited to major market crashes. Stocks fall even when markets are good – think events like earnings, business updates, and outlook changes. Read V Dip Buyer Analyses to see how the stock has recovered from sharp dips in the past.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index, less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.