PGGM Investments Grows Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• PGGM Investments increased its Visa stake by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 201,217 shares valued at about $70.6 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $3.31 beating expectations and revenue of $11.23 billion topping analyst estimates; revenue also rose 17.1% year over year.
• The company’s board authorized a $20 billion share buyback and Visa also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain broadly bullish with an average Buy rating and $387.67 price target.

PGGM Investments raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,217 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 14,702 shares during the period. PGGM Investments' holdings in Visa were worth $70,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Invariant Investment Management bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $281,045,000 after buying an additional 159,906 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Visa by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,352,766 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $803,187,000 after buying an additional 238,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $180,088,000 after buying an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $329.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $313.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.27. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.67.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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