Visa Inc. $V Holdings Reduced by BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments

Key Points

• BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments cut its Visa stake by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 47,399 shares and leaving it with 233,941 shares valued at about $82.8 million.
• Visa posted strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $3.31 topping estimates of $3.10 and revenue of $11.23 billion beating expectations, while revenue rose 17.1% year over year.
• The company also announced a $20 billion share buyback and recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, equivalent to a 0.8% annualized yield.

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 233,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 47,399 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.4% of BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments' investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments' holdings in Visa were worth $82,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 446.2% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $387.78.

Visa Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $319.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $573.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $316.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 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 is presently 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

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

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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