Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Smartleaf Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 4.1%, acquiring an additional 974 shares, bringing its total ownership to 24,778 shares valued at approximately $8.5 million.
• Insider transactions revealed that both the General Counsel and CEO sold significant portions of their shares, with the General Counsel's sale resulting in a 14.53% decrease of ownership, and the CEO's sale leading to a 94.14% decrease.
• Visa's quarterly earnings showed strong growth with an EPS of $2.98, beating estimates, and revenues increased by 14.3% year-over-year, indicating continued financial strength.

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,778 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.8% of Smartleaf Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $8,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.6%

Visa stock traded up $5.6280 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $349.3180. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,972,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,490,094. The company has a market cap of $640.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $347.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.39. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $265.31 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

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.