Czech National Bank Increases Position in Visa Inc. $V

Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 472,417 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 14,578 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 0.9% of Czech National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $162,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab boosted its position in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 311,868 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $106,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 54,196 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $18,594,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Visa by 111.0% in the 2nd quarter. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,412 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426 shares during the period. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $3,685,000. Finally, Westmount Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 1.7% during the second quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the 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 owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 49,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,125,140.14. This represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 101,398 shares of company stock valued at $35,831,433 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.4%

V opened at $370.11 on Friday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $344.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.79. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $373.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $663.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa agreed to acquire fraud-intelligence provider BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. The transaction would expand Visa’s artificial-intelligence and cybersecurity capabilities, helping banks and merchants combat account takeovers, scams and other increasingly costly payment fraud. The deal also strengthens Visa’s competitive position against Mastercard in payment security. Visa vs. Mastercard: BioCatch Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is moving stablecoin capabilities into production through Visa Direct and a partnership with Zero Hash, enabling stablecoin payouts and prefunding across eligible cards, accounts and wallets in 195 countries and territories. This could broaden Visa’s cross-border payment volume and preserve its role as digital currencies expand. Visa Stablecoin Cross-Border Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Western Union’s Visa-branded Stablecard, initially launching in 37 markets, will let users hold and spend a dollar-backed stablecoin anywhere Visa is accepted. The rollout offers Visa additional exposure to remittances, digital wallets and cross-border transactions. Western Union Stablecard on Visa Network
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry commentary remains constructive on cross-border payment growth and strategic expansion, but warns that higher technology spending and pressure on consumer spending could weigh on margins across transaction-processing companies. Financial Transaction Stocks Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Visa reportedly cut approximately 2,600 jobs, including 320 positions in California. Although the restructuring could improve efficiency and lower costs over time, the scale of the layoffs may raise concerns about near-term disruption, employee morale and management execution. Visa Job Cuts

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.