Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 514,099 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 28,412 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.1% of Arizona State Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Visa were worth $180,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $673,689,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on V. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock traded down $8.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $347.71. 7,577,927 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,822,520. The firm has a market capitalization of $641.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $356.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.