Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS Takes $31.12 Million Position in Visa Inc. $V

Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 102,964 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $31,120,000. Visa accounts for 4.8% of Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 446.2% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $355.94 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $638.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price target for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.36.

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.