Korea Investment CORP Reduces Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,001,398 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 138,769 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 0.7% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of Visa worth $343,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Visa Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $371.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $373.97. The company has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $353.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $329.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Visa announced that its board has approved 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the transaction, the insider owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.