Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Has $353.39 Million Position in Visa Inc. $V

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 21.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,030,032 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 179,379 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.7% of Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $353,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the second quarter worth about $33,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $406.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $413.58.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,162,953.50. This represents a 58.02% decrease in their position. 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 90 days, insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $371.09 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $662.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.74. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $373.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $353.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $329.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.