PGGM Investments Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

PGGM Investments grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 14,702 shares during the period. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Visa were worth $70,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 110.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Visa by 286.4% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $862,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,362 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,059,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,954 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $565,684,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Visa by 73.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,197,405 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,091,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353,441 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on V. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price target on Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target on the stock. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.67.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of V opened at $329.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.