Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by Liberty One Investment Management LLC

Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1,079.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,948 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,342 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its position in Visa by 58.1% in the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,966,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $351.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.14. The company has a market capitalization of $630.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $336.98 and a 200 day moving average of $325.13.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was 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. Insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a partnership with Airwallex to build embedded-finance tools for freight and shipping platforms, a move that could expand Visa’s footprint in cross-border B2B payments and working-capital solutions. Visa and Airwallex Team on Embedded Finance for Freight Companies
• Positive Sentiment: DoorDash’s new instant-deposit features for drivers use Visa Direct, highlighting continued adoption of Visa’s real-time money-movement infrastructure in consumer and gig-economy payments. DoorDash Launches Instant Deposits for DoorDash Crimson with Astra
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa to “strong-buy,” adding to the bullish case that the company’s earnings momentum and premium network position can support further upside. Visa upgraded by BNP Paribas Exane
• Neutral Sentiment: Several preview articles ahead of Visa’s fiscal Q3 results point to continued revenue and earnings growth, with consensus estimates around $3.23 EPS on $11.35 billion in revenue; investors are waiting to see whether the company can justify its valuation when it reports next week. Visa’s Q3 Earnings Could be a Catalyst: Should You Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer also highlighted Visa as a beneficiary of resilient consumer credit demand, which reinforces a positive spending backdrop but does not change the near-term fundamentals on its own. Jim Cramer Highlights Visa (V) as Consumer Credit Demand Soars
• Negative Sentiment: A Reuters report on new U.S. visa restrictions targeting people tied to cybercrime is not directly related to Visa Inc.’s payments business, but the headline may have created some noise for the stock due to the shared name. US announces visa restriction policy for people complicit in cybercrime

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.36.

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.