Norges Bank Acquires New Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 16,759,538 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $5,877,738,000. Visa accounts for 0.6% of Norges Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MTM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,344 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. High Note Wealth LLC lifted its position in Visa by 6.8% during the third quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 474 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 2.0% during the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Chapman Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd lifted its position in Visa by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 9,447 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

V opened at $327.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $587.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $314.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.05.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 23.34%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $386.70.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Visa

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was 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 directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% 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. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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