Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 46,248 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 31.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 194,192 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,248 shares during the period. Visa comprises 0.9% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Visa were worth $66,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after buying an additional 1,067,631 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa in the second quarter valued at about $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,820,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,552,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,247,289 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $349.75 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $340.09 and a 200-day moving average of $344.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $637.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.52.

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.