The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Position in Visa Inc. $V

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,897,420 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,585 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.11% of Visa worth $573,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of V opened at $362.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $650.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $365.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $338.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.18. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $399.41.

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.