Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 2,200 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 285,876 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.7% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Visa were worth $86,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Persium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 2,315 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Financial Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the first quarter. Financial Advisory Partners LLC now owns 11,755 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,553,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 61.7% during the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 190,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,706,000 after buying an additional 72,837 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.4% during the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,560 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,330,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth about $484,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% 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. Insiders sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on V. Citigroup cut their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.91.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $349.05 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $330.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.86. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $365.02. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.