Markel Group Inc. Purchases 5,046 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,004,331 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,046 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 2.5% of Markel Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $303,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of V. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.6% during the first quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,632,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 185.9% during the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at about $272,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 29.9% during the first quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 10.5% during the first quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 578 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% 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 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.91.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $349.05. The company had a trading volume of 4,701,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,985,494. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.02. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $330.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $325.05. The stock has a market cap of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

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.