Retirement Systems of Alabama Grows Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 746,436 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,898 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Visa were worth $235,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Visa by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 1,238 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $235,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 16.9% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 16,625 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,571,000 after buying an additional 2,398 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,265,000. Finally, Westwind Capital lifted its holdings in Visa by 726.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westwind Capital now owns 116,917 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,146,000 after buying an additional 102,763 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $348.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $320.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $295.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $351.25. The firm has a market cap of $648.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price target (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.