Financial Enhancement Group LLC Grows Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Financial Enhancement Group LLC increased its Visa stake by 9.9% in the first quarter, buying 3,693 more shares and bringing its total to 40,993 shares worth about $13.0 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 beating estimates and revenue rising 17.1% year over year to $11.23 billion. The company also announced a $20 billion share buyback authorization.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on Visa, with a consensus Buy rating and average target price of $387.78, while the company continues expanding through initiatives like Visa Destinations and Visa Cloud Connect.

Financial Enhancement Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,993 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 3,693 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.6% of Financial Enhancement Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Financial Enhancement Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $12,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $29,038,140,000 after purchasing an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after buying an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE V opened at $336.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $604.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50 day moving average is $323.36 and its 200 day moving average is $324.30. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $359.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched Visa Destinations, a global travel platform now live in 10 major markets, designed to engage cardholders earlier in the travel journey and deepen use of Visa’s network through curated experiences and exclusive access. Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded Visa Cloud Connect with Mintoak and Thredd in Asia Pacific, which could help fintechs and banks issue cards faster and broaden Visa’s reach in merchant SaaS and cloud-based issuing. Visa (V), Mintoak Partner to Expand Merchant SaaS Offerings Across Asia Pacific
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are highlighting Visa’s new travel push and international expansion efforts as potential future growth drivers, reinforcing the view that Visa can keep monetizing cross-border spending and travel-related activity. Can Visa's New Travel Play Become Its Next Growth Driver?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent write-ups on Visa’s travel and partner initiatives are largely descriptive, but they underscore investor focus on whether these new products can meaningfully add to growth over time. Visa Explores Travel Planning Space With Visa Destinations
• Neutral Sentiment: One opinion piece argued Visa could be vulnerable to payment disruption, but it did not include new fundamental data and appears to be more of a long-term risk discussion than a near-term catalyst. Visa: May Be Next On The Disruption Hit List

Visa Company Profile

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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