Davis R M Inc. Grows Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Davis R M Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,334 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.6% of Davis R M Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $90,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on V. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Clear Str raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $398.36.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $353.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $633.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.14. 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’s fifty day moving average is $336.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.10.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

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.