Louisbourg Investments Inc. Raises Position in Visa Inc. $V

Louisbourg Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 22.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,724 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,348 shares during the quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Finally, Ticino Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $1,837,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.96.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $323.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $324.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $613.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $359.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa 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 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.