Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Holdings Lowered by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 122,821 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,932 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 0.6% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mezzasalma Advisors LLC now owns 33,541 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,804,000 after acquiring an additional 4,621 shares in the last quarter. Navalign LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 11,163 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,930,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. AJ Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. AJ Advisors LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. MBA Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Values Added Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 2,419 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $276.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.78 and a 12 month high of $290.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $265.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.13. The stock has a market cap of $503.63 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.94% and a net margin of 54.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on V. StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $322.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Visa from $322.00 to $319.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $308.50.

About Visa

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.