Blue Whale Capital LLP, an institutional investor, has announced a reduction in its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.4% during the first quarter of this year. The disclosure was made in the company’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a result of this transaction, Blue Whale Capital LLP now holds 221,500 shares of Visa, having sold 10,250 shares during the quarter.
Visa is a prominent credit-card processor and is considered one of the leading players in this industry. Despite the decrease in its holdings, Visa still accounts for 8.3% of Blue Whale Capital LLP’s investment portfolio. This makes it their seventh largest position among their various investments. At the end of the most recent quarter, Blue Whale Capital LLP’s holdings in Visa were valued at approximately $49,939,000.
Notably, Visa also recently declared its quarterly dividend which was paid on September 1st to stockholders of record on August 11th. The dividend amount was set at $0.45 per share. With this payout frequency, Visa offers an annualized dividend amounting to $1.80 per share and currently provides investors with a dividend yield of around 0.73%.
It is worth highlighting that Visa’s dividend payout ratio presently stands at 22.84%, indicating that they distribute approximately one-quarter of their earnings as dividends to shareholders.
Investors closely watch institutional investors such as Blue Whale Capital LLP as they often possess significant expertise and resources and can make informed decisions based on insightful analysis and research.
Visa Inc., founded in 1958 and headquartered in Foster City, California, is recognized globally for its electronic payment processing solutions which enable businesses and consumers to transact securely across borders efficiently. They have built a reputation for reliability and innovation within the financial technology sector.
The information provided above gives us a snapshot into Blue Whale Capital LLP’s recent activities with regards to their holdings in Visa Inc. Furthermore, it sheds light on Visa’s dividend policy and its attractive payout ratio. Both pieces of information are valuable for investors seeking to gain insights into these companies’ financial performance.
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Visa Inc. Attracts Institutional Investors and Hedge Funds, Demonstrating Strong Growth Potential in the Credit-Card Processing Industry
Visa Inc., a renowned credit-card processor, has drawn the attention of various institutional investors and hedge funds recently. BCK Partners Inc., for instance, purchased a new stake in Visa worth around $2,717,000 during the first quarter of this year. Similarly, Markel Corp saw its holdings in Visa grow by 0.3% during the same period, now owning 961,105 shares valued at $213,144,000 after acquiring an additional 3,065 shares. Other noteworthy investments include those made by AMI Investment Management Inc., Ergoteles LLC, and XTX Topco Ltd.
Remarkably though, hedge funds and institutional investors currently own approximately 81.35% of Visa’s stock. This highlights the growing interest among industry experts in the company’s future prospects. Several equities research analysts have also released reports on Visa’s performance recently. Raymond James raised their target price from $282.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in July while Royal Bank of Canada increased it from $265.00 to $290.00 on the same day.
Wells Fargo & Company also boosted their target price from $265.00 to $270.00 with an “overweight” rating for Visa while Barclays upped its price objective from $272.00 to $287.00 and dubbed it as “overweight.” Wedbush echoed these positive sentiments with an “outperform” rating and a price objective of $270.00 at the end of August.
Despite one analyst giving it a sell rating and another assigning it a hold rating, data from Bloomberg.com reveals that Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy.” Furthermore, analysts have set a consensus target price of $273.77 for the company.
On Friday, September 10th, shares of Visa on NYSE (V) were traded at a value of $247.29, increasing by $0.15 during the trading session. A total of 3,309,819 shares were exchanged compared to its average volume of 3,943,795. The company has a quick ratio and current ratio both standing at 1.49. Additionally, Visa boasts a twelve month low of $174.60 and a twelve month high of $248.87.
Visa’s 50-day moving average price is recorded at $240.99 while its 200-day moving average price stands at $231.41. With a market capitalization of an impressive $460.41 billion, Visa currently holds a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38 and a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86. Moreover, it has a beta value of 0.95.
In its last earnings release on Tuesday, July 25th, Visa reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.16 for the quarter, surpassing analysts’ consensus estimate by $0.05. The credit-card processor achieved a net margin of 51.94% and a return on equity of 49.42%. Revenue for the quarter came in at $8.12 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $8.06 billion.
While these figures exhibit favorable growth for Visa Inc., it is worth mentioning that the firm’s revenue saw an increase of around 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year.
Considering all these factors and predictions made by equities analysts, it is expected that Visa will post an EPS figure reaching 8 .65 for this fiscal year.
With widespread interest from institutional investors and hedge funds along with positive ratings from experts in the field, Visa’s position as one of the leading credit-card processors appears to be on solid ground as it continues to navigate the ever-evolving financial landscape
