Calamos Advisors LLC Has $230.28 Million Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 761,893 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,884 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $230,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its position in Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its position in Visa by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.91.

Visa Trading Up 2.3%

V opened at $357.02 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $331.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.