MetLife Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 504,472 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,472 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.8% of MetLife Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $138,705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 211.9% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 52.9% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned 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 target price of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $311.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $290.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $277.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $579.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $251.61 and a 12-month high of $314.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.