Belmont Capital LLC Grows Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Belmont Capital LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 305.2%, bringing its total holdings to 2,026 shares valued at $710,000.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue rising 14.3% year-over-year to $10.17 billion.
• The latest analyst ratings show that out of 26 analysts, 21 rated Visa as a Buy, with an average price target of $383.17.

Belmont Capital LLC increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 305.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,026 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Belmont Capital LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FWL Investment Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,005,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 2.9% during the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the first quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,372 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,293 shares of company stock worth $8,114,295. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $0.64 during trading on Thursday, reaching $350.23. 4,322,638 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,283,867. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $348.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.36. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.23 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $641.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on V. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

About Visa

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.