Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 61,661 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 361,551 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 61,661 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Visa were worth $109,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after buying an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,411,480,000 after acquiring an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Visa by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,359,291,000 after acquiring an additional 398,459 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Down 0.5%

Visa stock opened at $351.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.14. The stock has a market cap of $630.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $336.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.13.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Clear Str raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $398.36.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a partnership with Airwallex to build embedded-finance tools for freight and shipping platforms, a move that could expand Visa’s footprint in cross-border B2B payments and working-capital solutions. Visa and Airwallex Team on Embedded Finance for Freight Companies
• Positive Sentiment: DoorDash’s new instant-deposit features for drivers use Visa Direct, highlighting continued adoption of Visa’s real-time money-movement infrastructure in consumer and gig-economy payments. DoorDash Launches Instant Deposits for DoorDash Crimson with Astra
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Visa to “strong-buy,” adding to the bullish case that the company’s earnings momentum and premium network position can support further upside. Visa upgraded by BNP Paribas Exane
• Neutral Sentiment: Several preview articles ahead of Visa’s fiscal Q3 results point to continued revenue and earnings growth, with consensus estimates around $3.23 EPS on $11.35 billion in revenue; investors are waiting to see whether the company can justify its valuation when it reports next week. Visa’s Q3 Earnings Could be a Catalyst: Should You Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer also highlighted Visa as a beneficiary of resilient consumer credit demand, which reinforces a positive spending backdrop but does not change the near-term fundamentals on its own. Jim Cramer Highlights Visa (V) as Consumer Credit Demand Soars
• Negative Sentiment: A Reuters report on new U.S. visa restrictions targeting people tied to cybercrime is not directly related to Visa Inc.’s payments business, but the headline may have created some noise for the stock due to the shared name. US announces visa restriction policy for people complicit in cybercrime

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.