Plato Investment Management Ltd Invests $15.46 Million in Visa Inc. $V

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 45,340 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $15,465,000. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $406.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.58.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:V opened at $363.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $649.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.74. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $373.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $349.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.29.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is 22.79%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,953.50. This trade represents a 58.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa 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.