Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 14.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,096,706 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,419,007 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.7% of Franklin Resources Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of Visa worth $2,764,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after purchasing an additional 193,288 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,034,939,000. Finally, TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Visa by 14.6% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after buying an additional 2,429,996 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Macquarie Infrastructure reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Truist Financial set a $372.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $411.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.65.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $314.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $570.77 billion, a PE ratio of 29.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $328.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.81.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 25.14%.

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.