Visa Inc. $V is Harber Asset Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Harber Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 18.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,750 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,987 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 5.3% of Harber Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Harber Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after purchasing an additional 626,821 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,359,291,000 after purchasing an additional 398,459 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $371.09 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $373.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $353.73 and a 200-day moving average of $329.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.58.

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.