SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 1,658,954 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 121.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,658,954 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.4% of SG Americas Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Visa worth $1,059,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Sonoma Allocations LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $438,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,401 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its holdings in Visa by 2.6% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $198,596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 24.1% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

V opened at $304.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $551.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $297.03 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $319.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.66.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Evercore set a $380.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Truist Financial set a $372.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Daiwa Securities Group raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. HSBC raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $392.65.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.