Candriam S.C.A. Has $176.41 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 583,683 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 32,892 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.9% of Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $176,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Invariant Investment Management bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value 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 approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $397.91.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $349.05 on Friday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $330.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.05. The company has a market cap of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.02.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.