Johnson Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,524 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC 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. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its stake in Visa by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 6,096 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $387.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Seven 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $398.36.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $361.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $648.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $335.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.05. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.