Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,136,548 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 140,213 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.0% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. National Pension Service owned about 0.17% of Visa worth $1,113,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Visa in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.1%

Visa stock opened at $338.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $342.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $348.85. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $620.72 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.Visa’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.11%.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.