Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Key Points

• Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its Visa stake by 20.2% in Q1, buying 4,992 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 29,696 shares worth about $8.98 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 beating estimates and revenue of $11.23 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 17.1% year over year.
• The company also authorized a $20 billion share buyback and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts largely remain positive with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $387.78.

Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 20.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,696 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 4,992 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.7% of Strong Tower Advisory Services' investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Strong Tower Advisory Services' holdings in Visa were worth $8,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 company's 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 directly owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $327.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $587.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $359.66.

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

Visa declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Loop Capital started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

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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