Liberty One Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1,079.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,948 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,342 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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. State Street Corp lifted its position in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after purchasing an additional 626,821 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,359,291,000 after purchasing an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of V opened at $351.68 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $630.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $336.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.13.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Piper Sandler began 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $387.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.36.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a partnership with Airwallex to build embedded-finance tools for freight and shipping platforms, a move that could expand Visa’s footprint in cross-border B2B payments and working-capital solutions. Visa and Airwallex Team on Embedded Finance for Freight Companies
• Positive Sentiment: DoorDash’s new instant-deposit features for drivers use Visa Direct, highlighting continued adoption of Visa’s real-time money-movement infrastructure in consumer and gig-economy payments. DoorDash Launches Instant Deposits for DoorDash Crimson with Astra
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa to “strong-buy,” adding to the bullish case that the company’s earnings momentum and premium network position can support further upside. Visa upgraded by BNP Paribas Exane
• Neutral Sentiment: Several preview articles ahead of Visa’s fiscal Q3 results point to continued revenue and earnings growth, with consensus estimates around $3.23 EPS on $11.35 billion in revenue; investors are waiting to see whether the company can justify its valuation when it reports next week. Visa’s Q3 Earnings Could be a Catalyst: Should You Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer also highlighted Visa as a beneficiary of resilient consumer credit demand, which reinforces a positive spending backdrop but does not change the near-term fundamentals on its own. Jim Cramer Highlights Visa (V) as Consumer Credit Demand Soars
• Negative Sentiment: A Reuters report on new U.S. visa restrictions targeting people tied to cybercrime is not directly related to Visa Inc.’s payments business, but the headline may have created some noise for the stock due to the shared name. US announces visa restriction policy for people complicit in cybercrime

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, 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 sale, the general counsel directly 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% 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 ninety days, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by 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.