Visa Inc. $V Stake Boosted by Mirova

Key Points

• Mirova increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 2.2% during the first quarter, now holding 44,974 shares worth approximately $15.76 million, representing 2.8% of its investment portfolio.
• Visa's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.98, beating expectations, with revenues of $10.17 billion, reflecting a 14.3% year-over-year growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, payable on September 2nd to investors of record on August 12th.

Mirova grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,974 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.8% of Mirova's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Mirova's holdings in Visa were worth $15,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,210,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,785 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,796,415 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,045,149,000 after acquiring an additional 164,008 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $348.89. 8,019,698 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,490,094. The stock has a market cap of $639.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $347.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.39. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $267.67 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% 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 valued at $28,340,553. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa 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.