Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 11.2%, holding a total of 42,777 shares valued at approximately $15.19 million, making Visa its 20th largest investment.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share for the last quarter, which exceeded expectations, and generated revenue of $10.17 billion, marking a 14.3% increase year-over-year.
• The stock's consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $389.00 from analysts, indicating a positive outlook for Visa's future performance.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,777 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 4,319 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.9% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $15,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of V. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth about $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Visa by 17.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,847,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,954 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth about $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $351.31 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $343.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.96. The stock has a market cap of $643.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.42 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $389.00.

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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