Visa Inc. $V Stock Holdings Trimmed by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 719,551 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 6,171 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.8% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $217,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Visa by 867.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,880,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,216,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,308,345 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Visa by 12,497.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Visa by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded up $0.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $349.05. 4,701,656 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,985,494. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $330.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.05.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup cut their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.91.

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.