Ethic Inc. Grows Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. has increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 3.5%, holding a total of 162,875 shares valued at over $56 million.
• Visa reported strong earnings, with $2.98 earnings per share, surpassing analyst expectations and a revenue of $10.17 billion, up 14.3% from the previous year.
• Insiders sold a combined total of 75,100 shares of Visa stock in the last quarter, indicating a notable decrease in their ownership stakes.

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 162,875 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 5,508 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.1% of Ethic Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $56,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $345.53 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $350.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $347.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $633.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $262.84 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on V. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

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.

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