William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 13,400 Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management opened a new position in Visa, buying 13,400 shares valued at about $4.7 million in the fourth quarter.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.31 versus the $3.10 consensus and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The company also approved a $20 billion stock buyback and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus rating of Buy.

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 13,400 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $4,700,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $327.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $586.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average is $313.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.17. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for 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%.Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 is presently 23.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $386.70.

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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