Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 77,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 10,271 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.1% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $23,404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of V. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its position in Visa by 446.2% during 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 in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $336.96 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $359.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $323.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.29. The company has a market cap of $604.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. Visa’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current 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 purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched Visa Destinations, a global travel platform now live in 10 major markets, designed to engage cardholders earlier in the travel journey and deepen use of Visa’s network through curated experiences and exclusive access. Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded Visa Cloud Connect with Mintoak and Thredd in Asia Pacific, which could help fintechs and banks issue cards faster and broaden Visa’s reach in merchant SaaS and cloud-based issuing. Visa (V), Mintoak Partner to Expand Merchant SaaS Offerings Across Asia Pacific
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are highlighting Visa’s new travel push and international expansion efforts as potential future growth drivers, reinforcing the view that Visa can keep monetizing cross-border spending and travel-related activity. Can Visa’s New Travel Play Become Its Next Growth Driver?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent write-ups on Visa’s travel and partner initiatives are largely descriptive, but they underscore investor focus on whether these new products can meaningfully add to growth over time. Visa Explores Travel Planning Space With Visa Destinations
• Neutral Sentiment: One opinion piece argued Visa could be vulnerable to payment disruption, but it did not include new fundamental data and appears to be more of a long-term risk discussion than a near-term catalyst. Visa: May Be Next On The Disruption Hit List

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $387.78.

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.