Elefante Mark B Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Elefante Mark B increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 146.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,550 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,515 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B’s holdings in Visa were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of V. Cresta Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,125,140.14. The trade was a 53.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, 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

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Clear Str raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $416.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $394.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $371.09 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $373.97. The company has a market capitalization of $662.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $353.73 and its 200 day moving average is $329.61.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current year.

Visa announced that its board has authorized 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 usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Visa Company 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.