Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 2,369 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 649,345 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,369 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.6% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Visa were worth $222,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Visa by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,411,480,000 after acquiring an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Visa by 1.7% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 398,459 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total value of $20,902,561.84. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,953.50. The trade was a 58.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 price objective (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $427.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 price target on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.58.

Visa Stock Down 0.5%

V opened at $360.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $643.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.67, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $345.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.28. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $373.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Visa Profile

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.