Arizona State Retirement System Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 514,099 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 28,412 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.1% of Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Visa were worth $180,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Visa by 12.3% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors boosted its position in Visa by 9.5% during the first quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 2,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 0.3% during the first quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 13,987 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,902,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 7.6% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 13,487 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,727,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.9% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 38,036 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $13,330,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $347.71 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $641.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $356.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.71.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Truist Financial began coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie lowered their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.84.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.