Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 62.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,990 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.1% of Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Visa by 17.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,847,953,000 after buying an additional 1,651,954 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after buying an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $340.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $623.72 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $344.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $348.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.