Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Maverick Capital Ltd.

Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 806,951 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 30,088 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.8% of Maverick Capital Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $243,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Excelsior Advisor Network LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 70.3% in the 1st quarter. Excelsior Advisor Network LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in Visa by 24.2% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 890,097 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $269,023,000 after purchasing an additional 173,574 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Visa by 19.2% in the first quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 2,961,240 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $895,005,000 after purchasing an additional 476,622 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.3% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,414,787 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $729,845,000 after buying an additional 55,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $366,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

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

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $362.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $650.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $338.16 and its 200-day moving average price 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

About Visa

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.