Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by M&G PLC

M&G PLC lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 731,550 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,434 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.3% of M&G PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. M&G PLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $249,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sonoma Allocations LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $438,196,000 after purchasing an additional 21,401 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $198,596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Visa by 24.1% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $281,045,000 after acquiring an additional 159,906 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on V shares. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $372.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of V opened at $314.13 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $337.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $570.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.79. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

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.