E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 2,351 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 13.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,718 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after purchasing an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Visa by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,359,291,000 after purchasing an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of V stock opened at $366.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $373.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $352.75 and a 200 day moving average of $329.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The business had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $406.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $413.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,953.50. The trade was a 58.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 49,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,125,140.14. This represents a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Profile

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.