Canoe Financial LP Purchases 295,393 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Canoe Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 76.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 681,997 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 295,393 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.8% of Canoe Financial LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $206,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,096,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd increased its holdings in Visa by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 9,447 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Bank OZK increased its holdings in Visa by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank OZK now owns 858 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.96.

Visa Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE V opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $613.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $359.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $323.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

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.