EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,363 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 4,316 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.0% of EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $343.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $639.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.75.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa 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.