Saudi Central Bank Buys 55,453 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Saudi Central Bank boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 89.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,677 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,453 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $40,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 200.0% in the third 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. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on V. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $394.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $416.62.

Visa Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of V opened at $374.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $363.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $333.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $668.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $385.57.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Tullier 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 value of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 104,537 shares of company stock valued at $37,540,837. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.