Groupe la Francaise Has $161.10 Million Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Groupe la Française increased its Visa stake by 15.7% in the second quarter, holding 470,563 shares worth approximately $161.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $416.62; RBC raised its target to $466 from $412.
• Visa exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted earnings of $3.32 per share and revenue of $11.63 billion, while insiders sold roughly $37.5 million of shares over the past 90 days.

Groupe la Francaise lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 470,563 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 63,779 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.9% of Groupe la Francaise's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Visa were worth $161,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth $175,977,000. Tanager Wealth Management LLP grew its position in Visa by 5.1% during the second quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 1,849 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Visa by 143.6% during the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,229 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,999,000 after buying an additional 15,460 shares in the last quarter. Trevian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trevian Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $247,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $466.00 price target (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $445.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $416.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.65, for a total value of $2,230,443.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,760,809.10. This trade represents a 27.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,125,140.14. This represents a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 104,537 shares of company stock valued at $37,540,837. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $374.46 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $668.20 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $385.57. The business's 50-day moving average price is $363.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $333.40.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Visa 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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