Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,103 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,139 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.6% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Visa were worth $50,343,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. XXEC Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 153,118.8% in the second quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $63,904,097,000 after acquiring an additional 186,138,883 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth $1,435,262,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 13.0% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,720,068 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,393,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808,496 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 33.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,486,927 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,356,090,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 16.5% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,714,919 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,646,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,315 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $490 from $440 and maintained a Buy rating, implying about 15.9% upside from the cited share price. Citigroup recommendations
• Positive Sentiment: Global Payments added Visa’s Intelligent Data Exchange API to its Adaptive Authentication platform. Sharing more transaction data with issuers is intended to reduce false declines and improve digital checkout, supporting the utility of Visa’s data tools. Global Payments expands authentication platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares for about $790,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. She retained 18,404 shares, which may temper concern about the sale as a signal of her outlook. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: A hotter-than-expected October CPI reading could renew inflation and interest-rate concerns, potentially pressuring richly valued growth-oriented stocks, including Visa. CPI and market drivers
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary on Visa’s long-term performance also flags fee-related lawsuits, stablecoin competition and a high valuation as risks that could challenge its record of outperforming the broader market. Visa’s IPO and long-term performance

Visa Stock Performance

V stock opened at $422.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $754.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.80. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $442.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $387.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 70.50% and a net margin of 51.20%. The company’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Visa from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $403.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $396.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $422.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $442.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $2,161,236.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,582,059.38. This trade represents a 27.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,018,365.40. The trade was a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,262 shares of company stock worth $11,195,791. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.