Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 33,025 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 827,943 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,025 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.6% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $250,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 626,821 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during 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 buying an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $14,411,480,000 after buying an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Visa by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after buying an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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 Announces Dividend

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

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $397.96.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% 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. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.