Mizuho Securities USA LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,319 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 13,057 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.6% of Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $29,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arjuna Capital lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department increased its position in shares of Visa by 8.0% during the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in Visa by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after acquiring an additional 20,023 shares during the period. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its position in Visa by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 58,655 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,299,000 after acquiring an additional 4,988 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Compass Point initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $307.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $288.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $276.84. The stock has a market cap of $560.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $250.03 and a 1-year high of $312.44.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.