Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. has increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 2.1% in the first quarter, now owning over 6.68 million shares valued at approximately $2.34 billion, making it the 6th largest position in their portfolio.
• Visa's CEO, Ryan Mcinerney, recently sold 8,630 shares, significantly reducing his ownership by 94.14%, while other insiders have also sold large quantities of stock in recent months.
• Visa reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $2.98 EPS compared to an estimated $2.85, alongside a dividend announcement of $0.59 per share, reflecting continued financial strength.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,685,539 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 140,669 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.2% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.36% of Visa worth $2,342,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 28.5% during the first quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on V. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $339.68 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.31 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $626.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $353.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $346.79. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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