KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases 20,300 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in Visa Inc. by purchasing 20,300 shares, raising its total holdings to 736,262 shares, valued at approximately $261.41 million.
• Several research analysts have upgraded their target prices for Visa, with Barclays setting a new target price of $408.00, reflecting strong market confidence in the stock.
• Visa recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 0.7% and demonstrating its continued commitment to returning value to shareholders.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 736,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 20,300 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.1% of KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's holdings in Visa were worth $261,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on V shares. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie increased their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $389.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $343.63 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $343.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $629.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.90.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.05%.

About Visa

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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