58,418 Shares in Visa Inc. $V Purchased by North Dakota State Investment Board

Key Points

• North Dakota State Investment Board bought 58,418 Visa shares in the fourth quarter, a position worth about $20.5 million and making Visa its 18th-largest holding.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Visa, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $387.67 after several firms recently reiterated or raised their targets.
• Visa reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $3.31 and revenue of $11.23 billion, and it also authorized a $20 billion share buyback while paying a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share.

North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 58,418 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $20,488,000. Visa makes up about 0.8% of North Dakota State Investment Board's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 446.2% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $387.67.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $325.42 on Monday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $311.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.74. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The company's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

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.

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