Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Key Points

• Czech National Bank increased its Visa stake by 3.2% in the second quarter, acquiring 14,578 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 472,417 shares valued at approximately $162.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa.
• Analysts remain bullish on Visa, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $413.58; several firms recently raised their targets to between $405 and $450.
• Visa exceeded quarterly expectations with earnings of $3.32 per share and revenue of $11.63 billion, while also declaring a $0.67 quarterly dividend and maintaining authorization for a $20 billion share-buyback program.

Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 472,417 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 14,578 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.9% of Czech National Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Czech National Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $162,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Visa by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 16.9% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 13.8% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on V. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $432.00 price objective (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $430.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and issued a $427.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $413.58.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $370.11 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $373.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $663.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average is $344.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $326.79.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The company's revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.14 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

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

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa agreed to acquire fraud-intelligence provider BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. The transaction would expand Visa’s artificial-intelligence and cybersecurity capabilities, helping banks and merchants combat account takeovers, scams and other increasingly costly payment fraud. The deal also strengthens Visa’s competitive position against Mastercard in payment security. Visa vs. Mastercard: BioCatch Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is moving stablecoin capabilities into production through Visa Direct and a partnership with Zero Hash, enabling stablecoin payouts and prefunding across eligible cards, accounts and wallets in 195 countries and territories. This could broaden Visa’s cross-border payment volume and preserve its role as digital currencies expand. Visa Stablecoin Cross-Border Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Western Union’s Visa-branded Stablecard, initially launching in 37 markets, will let users hold and spend a dollar-backed stablecoin anywhere Visa is accepted. The rollout offers Visa additional exposure to remittances, digital wallets and cross-border transactions. Western Union Stablecard on Visa Network
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry commentary remains constructive on cross-border payment growth and strategic expansion, but warns that higher technology spending and pressure on consumer spending could weigh on margins across transaction-processing companies. Financial Transaction Stocks Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Visa reportedly cut approximately 2,600 jobs, including 320 positions in California. Although the restructuring could improve efficiency and lower costs over time, the scale of the layoffs may raise concerns about near-term disruption, employee morale and management execution. Visa Job Cuts

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,162,953.50. This represents a 58.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 101,398 shares of company stock valued at $35,831,433 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Company 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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