Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Has $245.06 Million Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB reduced its holdings in Visa by 2.1%, owning 699,264 shares worth approximately $245.06 million, making it Visa's 9th largest shareholder.
• Visa reported earnings per share of $2.98 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and reflecting a 14.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• An allocation of analysts' ratings for Visa includes one Strong Buy, 22 Buy ratings, and five Holds, indicating strong market confidence with a consensus price target of $380.84.

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 699,264 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 15,114 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.5% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's holdings in Visa were worth $245,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business'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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE V opened at $350.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $642.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $267.67 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business's fifty day moving average is $347.87 and its 200-day moving average is $347.44.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 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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