UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 78,155 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,530 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.3% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $23,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ransom Advisory Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the third quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,514 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $858,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.91.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $349.05 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $626.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $330.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.86.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its 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 company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.