Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Holdings Increased by Eastern Bank

Key Points

• Eastern Bank increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 2.9% in Q1, holding 343,625 shares valued at approximately $120.43 million, making it the 8th largest position in its portfolio.
• Institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa stock, with several funds, including Brighton Jones LLC and Revolve Wealth Partners LLC, significantly boosting their holdings in the past quarter.
• Visa reported an EPS of $2.98 in its recent earnings release, exceeding expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, reflecting a low dividend payout ratio of 23.72%.

Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 343,625 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 9,565 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.4% of Eastern Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Eastern Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $120,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 45,145 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 25,508 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneX Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $7,688,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of V traded down $6.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $338.81. The company had a trading volume of 8,655,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,746,410. The company has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $254.51 and a one year high of $375.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $355.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.34.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 89,913 shares of company stock worth $32,902,432 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.