Allstate Corp Grows Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Allstate increased its Visa stake by 1.6% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 185,266 shares valued at approximately $63.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa.
• Visa reported quarterly EPS of $3.32 and revenue of $11.63 billion, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue up 14.4% year over year. The company also authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and average price target of $413.58, while Visa’s CEO and another insider sold shares totaling more than $28 million in recent transactions.

Allstate Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 185,266 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 2,917 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.6% of Allstate Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Allstate Corp's holdings in Visa were worth $63,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. XXEC Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 153,118.8% during the 2nd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $63,904,097,000 after purchasing an additional 186,138,883 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,216,310,000 after buying an additional 7,308,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,184,712,000 after buying an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total transaction of $7,135,042.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,162,953.50. This trade represents a 58.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $430.00 price target (up from $394.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $430.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Clear Str upgraded Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $413.58.

Visa Stock Up 0.0%

V opened at $371.09 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm's fifty day moving average is $353.73 and its 200 day moving average is $329.61. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $373.97.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

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.

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