ABC Arbitrage SA Buys Shares of 5,979 Visa Inc. $V

ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,979 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its position in Visa by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Visa by 102.7% in the fourth 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 period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 200.0% in 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 acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $357.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.02. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $331.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.88.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were 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 owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was 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 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 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 sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.