Archer Investment Corp Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Archer Investment Corp increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 56.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 446.2% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC increased 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $357.02 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. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.02. The company has a market capitalization of $640.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $331.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.88.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on V. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.91.

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.