Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Canoe Financial LP

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP boosted its Visa stake by 76.4% in Q1, buying 295,393 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 681,997 shares valued at about $206.1 million.
• Visa reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $3.31 per share versus $3.10 expected and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The company’s board authorized a $20 billion share buyback and Visa also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts broadly remain bullish with a consensus Buy rating.

Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 76.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 681,997 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 295,393 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.8% of Canoe Financial LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Canoe Financial LP's holdings in Visa were worth $206,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,880,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,762 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,216,310,000 after acquiring an additional 7,308,345 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Visa by 12,497.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,184,712,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,463 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 1.7%

Visa stock opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $359.66. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $613.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $323.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.40.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.34%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 on 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 directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $394.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.96.

About Visa

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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