Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 213,955 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its Visa stake by 4.6% in the first quarter, buying 213,955 more shares and bringing its total holding to 4.85 million shares worth about $1.47 billion.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 and revenue of $11.23 billion, both above analyst expectations and up 17.1% from a year earlier.
• The company also announced a $20 billion stock buyback and maintained a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts largely kept bullish ratings with a consensus price target of about $397.91.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,848,317 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 213,955 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.8% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.27% of Visa worth $1,465,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 58.1% during the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $180,088,000 after purchasing an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $10,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,688 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $394.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.91.

Visa Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE:V opened at $357.02 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.02. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $331.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $640.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

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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