Markel Group Inc. Purchases 5,046 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,004,331 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,046 shares during the period. Visa comprises 2.5% of Markel Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Markel Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Visa worth $303,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Oakwell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 185.9% during the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $272,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. increased its position in Visa by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 578 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on V. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 target price on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.91.

Visa Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of V traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $349.05. 4,701,656 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,985,494. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $330.81 and a 200-day moving average of $325.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business 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 for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. 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 23.34%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 shares were 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 $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. 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 three months, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.