Korea Investment CORP Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Korea Investment CORP lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,001,398 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 138,769 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.7% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Visa were worth $343,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its stake in Visa by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its holdings in Visa by 16.9% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after acquiring an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $394.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $413.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Visa stock opened at $371.09 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $373.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $353.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $329.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $662.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.79%.

Visa announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa 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.