Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 14,057 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Cetera Investment Advisers trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 834,891 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 14,057 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Visa were worth $252,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,880,595,000 after buying an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 29,706.3% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,216,310,000 after buying an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in Visa by 12,497.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,184,712,000 after buying an additional 3,351,223 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.8%

Visa stock opened at $353.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $633.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $336.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.10. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 currently 23.34%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on V shares. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $387.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Eight equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $398.36.

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.