National Pension Service Acquires 239,605 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 8.7% in Q1, owning nearly 2.997 million shares valued at over $1 billion, making Visa the 15th largest position in its portfolio.
• Several research firms have upgraded their ratings for Visa, with targets ranging from $408 to $425, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• Visa recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, which represents an annualized dividend yield of 0.7% and is scheduled for payment on September 2nd.

National Pension Service grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,996,335 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 239,605 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.0% of National Pension Service's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.16% of Visa worth $1,050,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FWL Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 872 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Headinvest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE V traded up $5.92 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $342.66. 5,692,001 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,341,925. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $351.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.19. 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 12-month low of $258.74 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $628.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.