Bank of Nova Scotia Has $109.28 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia cut its Visa stake by 14.6% in the first quarter, selling 61,661 shares and leaving it with 361,551 shares valued at about $109.3 million.
• Several analysts remain bullish on Visa, with recent ratings including outperform and buy calls and an average price target of about $398.36.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and its board authorized a $20 billion share repurchase program while the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share.

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 361,551 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 61,661 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Visa were worth $109,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Planned Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel increased its stake in Visa by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake in Visa by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 185 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% 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. Insiders sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a partnership with Airwallex to build embedded-finance tools for freight and shipping platforms, a move that could expand Visa’s footprint in cross-border B2B payments and working-capital solutions. Visa and Airwallex Team on Embedded Finance for Freight Companies
• Positive Sentiment: DoorDash’s new instant-deposit features for drivers use Visa Direct, highlighting continued adoption of Visa’s real-time money-movement infrastructure in consumer and gig-economy payments. DoorDash Launches Instant Deposits for DoorDash Crimson with Astra
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa to “strong-buy,” adding to the bullish case that the company’s earnings momentum and premium network position can support further upside. Visa upgraded by BNP Paribas Exane
• Neutral Sentiment: Several preview articles ahead of Visa’s fiscal Q3 results point to continued revenue and earnings growth, with consensus estimates around $3.23 EPS on $11.35 billion in revenue; investors are waiting to see whether the company can justify its valuation when it reports next week. Visa's Q3 Earnings Could be a Catalyst: Should You Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer also highlighted Visa as a beneficiary of resilient consumer credit demand, which reinforces a positive spending backdrop but does not change the near-term fundamentals on its own. Jim Cramer Highlights Visa (V) as Consumer Credit Demand Soars
• Negative Sentiment: A Reuters report on new U.S. visa restrictions targeting people tied to cybercrime is not directly related to Visa Inc.’s payments business, but the headline may have created some noise for the stock due to the shared name. US announces visa restriction policy for people complicit in cybercrime

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports 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 research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $398.36.

Visa Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $351.68 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average is $336.98 and its 200 day moving average is $325.13. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $365.14. The stock has a market cap of $630.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.75. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

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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