Rafferty Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 566,302 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,126 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $193,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Visa by 287.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 202.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth $41,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $319.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $579.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $333.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $338.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. HSBC raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore set a $380.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $411.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $391.43.

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.