Visa profit jump, boosts dividend, shares rise

Visa shares rose as high as 2% in extended trading after reporting a 16% jump in quarterly profit.

The company also announced a dividend increase and a new stock repurchase plan.

The financial services company says earnings were helped by higher usage of its global namesake payment network.

The San Francisco-based company said it earned a profit of $3.94 billion, or $1.86 a share. 

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Excluding one-time charges, the company earned $4.09 billion, or $1.93 a share. That's better than the $1.87 per share that analysts were forecasting, according to FactSet.

Visa processed $2.929 trillion in payments on its network in the July to September quarter, up 10.5% on a constant-dollar basis. 

Since the pandemic, there's been a global move to use electronic payments for more routine purchases, such as groceries. 

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Visa said that its has seen no change in consumer purchasing behavior yet, despite the surge in inflation across the world.

"As we look ahead, while some short-term uncertainty exists, we remain confident in Visa’s long-term growth trajectory across consumer payments, new flows and value added services," Visa CEO Al Kelly said in a statement.

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Visa's board of directors approved an increase to the company's quarterly dividend to 45 cents per share. The board also approved a new $12 billion stock buyback program, replacing its previous program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.