FORA Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 23,176 Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in Visa Inc., purchasing 23,176 shares valued at approximately $8.12 million, making Visa its 17th largest position, comprising 0.8% of their portfolio.
• Visa reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.98, exceeding estimates of $2.85, with revenues of $10.17 billion for the quarter, which was 14.3% year-over-year growth.
• Insider selling was significant, with Paul D. Fabara selling 46,214 shares for over $17 million and CEO Ryan Mcinerney selling 8,630 shares valued at approximately $3.05 million.

FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $8,122,000. Visa makes up about 0.8% of FORA Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Visa by 38,416.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after buying an additional 14,723,050 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth $3,518,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $673,689,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,210,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,785 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on V. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $350.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,987,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,555,576. The stock has a market cap of $641.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $268.23 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.44.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.