5 Best Socially Responsible Stocks to Buy According to Analysts

3. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 177

Analyst Price Target: $300

A strong ESG score and investments in the ESG space makes Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) a key part of the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund.

Recently, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) posted strong fiscal second quarter results. Adjusted EPS in the period came in at $2.09, beating estimates by $0.10. Revenue in the quarter jumped 11.1% year over year to reach $8 billion, beating estimates by $210 million.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s median price target is $300, which shows the stock has a lot of room to run in the next 12 months.

A total of 177 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, up from 165 funds in the previous quarter. This shows hedge fund sentiment for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) gained in the last quarter of 2022.

Polen Global Growth Strategy made the following comment about Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:

“We trimmed Mastercard and Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) to equal weights of the Portfolio. Mastercard and Visa operate as a duopoly in a large and growing market. Over the last 50 years, global personal consumer expenditures (PCE) has grown 7-9% annualized. We expect 4-5% long-term PCE growth going forward. Additionally, the shift from cash to credit continues unabated, with a total credit penetration of only approximately 50% globally.3 This shift provides Visa and Mastercard with another ~4-6% of growth. When combined with PCE, this gives both companies high-single-digit to low-double[1]digit revenue growth opportunities. This growth estimate is before accounting for growth amplifiers like the acceleration of e[1]commerce, the shift from offline to online, and additional services. Both companies enjoy extremely strong network effects that provide strong competitive advantages.

We have trimmed Visa and Mastercard because their combined weight grew to over 12% of the Global Growth Portfolio because of their recent performance and to fund our increase in Amazon’s position size. We added to both positions when their prices were depressed due to cross-border transactions deteriorating materially from the pandemic. Cross-border volumes came roaring back when travel corridors reopened, and although we are several quarters removed from the cross-border nadir, Visa still grew volumes >30% in 1Q23. Total cross-border volumes are now 132% of 2019 levels. At 4.5% each, both companies remain high conviction positions for Global Growth.”