abrdn plc Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

abrdn plc grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 28.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,352,738 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 298,130 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.8% of abrdn plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. abrdn plc owned about 0.07% of Visa worth $352,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 545.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

V opened at $269.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $495.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wedbush upped their price target on Visa from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Company 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.