Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 14.9% in the second quarter, owning a total of 2,706,304 shares valued at approximately $960.87 million.
• Numerous major investors, including Vanguard and Northern Trust, have also raised their stakes in Visa, which indicates strong institutional confidence in the company.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 EPS, surpassing estimates, with a quarterly revenue of $10.17 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 14.3%.

Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,706,304 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 351,085 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.1% of Swedbank AB's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.15% of Visa worth $960,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,518,533,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $673,689,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,954 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of V stock traded up $3.89 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $342.07. The company had a trading volume of 13,657,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,986,314. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $268.23 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $626.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $345.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.41.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. 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 research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.