M&G Plc Has $239.47 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

M&G Plc grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 870,805 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,976 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.2% of M&G Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. M&G Plc’s holdings in Visa were worth $239,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. William Blair raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $307.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $560.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $240.97 and a 1 year high of $309.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $282.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.20.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 21.38%.

Visa Company 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.