Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,753 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.7% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Visa were worth $33,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rainsberger Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the third quarter. Rainsberger Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,231 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 2,712.4% during the third quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 4,828 shares in the last quarter. Cito Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cito Capital Group LLC now owns 17,838 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,103,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the third quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 12,887 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tenere Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 56,167 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,919,000 after buying an additional 10,280 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.56.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

Visa stock traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $268.99. 5,017,760 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,395,944. The company has a market cap of $491.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.68 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $273.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $273.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.