Visa Inc. $V is Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's 8th Largest Position

Key Points

• Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 42.9%, purchasing an additional 3,661 shares, to own a total of 12,190 shares valued at approximately $4.27 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly earnings with $2.98 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate, and a revenue increase of 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year.
• Several analysts upgraded their ratings on Visa, with UBS Group raising the target price to $415.00, indicating optimism about the company's future performance.

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 42.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,190 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 3,661 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.8% of Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $4,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $159,523,000 after buying an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $192,948,000 after buying an additional 43,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FJ Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $283,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock traded up $2.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $351.92. 3,670,969 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,856,767. The stock has a market cap of $645.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.23 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The firm's 50 day moving average is $348.35 and its 200 day moving average is $347.36.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Company 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.