Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management boosted its Visa stake by 3.0% in the first quarter, ending with 496,635 shares valued at about $146.0 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 beating estimates of $3.10 and revenue of $11.23 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 17.1% year over year.
• The company’s board authorized a $20 billion share buyback, while analysts remain generally bullish with a consensus “Buy” rating and average price target of $387.78.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 496,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 14,611 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.5% of BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Visa were worth $146,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 30.9% during the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 7,147 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687 shares during the last quarter. J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $861,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $1,404,000. Stance Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 12,910 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carter Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $610,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six investment 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.78.

Visa Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE V opened at $327.78 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $359.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company 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. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $321.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.18.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.