Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $33.91 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 124,753 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.7% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Visa were worth $33,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.56.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded up $0.76 on Thursday, reaching $268.99. 5,017,760 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,395,944. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $273.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $273.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $491.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.68 and a 12 month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.