Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 1,834 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 2.3% in Q2, acquiring an additional 1,834 shares to reach a total of 82,636 shares valued at $29.34 million.
• Visa announced strong quarterly earnings, reporting $2.98 EPS and $10.17 billion in revenue, surpassing analysts' expectations and showing a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Despite strong performance, Erste Group Bank downgraded Visa from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, while other analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $389.00.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,636 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.6% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Visa were worth $29,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ignite Planners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 3,464 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 4,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,081 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,514,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 10,276 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,648,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 1,190 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $343.63 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average is $343.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $629.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business'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 transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $389.00.

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.

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