Visa Inc. $V Holdings Lowered by M&G PLC

M&G PLC decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 731,272 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 112,717 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.3% of M&G PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. M&G PLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $262,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 34.4% in the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 10,173 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 9.6% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 38,608 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after acquiring an additional 3,372 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,916 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,187,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 736,352 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $264,593,000 after purchasing an additional 8,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $422.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $753.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.80. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $442.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $386.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $345.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $12.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 21.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $2,161,236.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,582,059.38. The trade was a 27.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,395 shares of company stock valued at $10,406,050. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $479.00 price target (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on Visa from $430.00 to $444.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $440.82.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online.

The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.

Visa traces its roots to BankAmericard, a bank card program launched in California in 1958.