Top 5 Stock Picks of John Armitage’s Egerton Capital

In this article, we discuss the top 5 stock picks of John Armitage’s Egerton Capital. If you want our detailed analysis of these stocks, go directly to the Top 10 Stock Picks of John Armitage’s Egerton Capital. 

5. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Egerton Capital’s Stake Value: $1,125,033,000

Percentage of Egerton Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 5.34%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 143

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), a multinational financial services corporation known for electronic fund transfers via debit, credit, and prepaid cards, is one of the top holdings of Egerton Capital. The hedge fund owns more than 5 million shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), worth $1.12 billion, representing 5.34% of the fund’s total Q3 investments. 

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) announced on December 15 a new share repurchase authorization of $12 billion, which brings the total funds available for future share repurchases to $13.2 billion. These authorizations do not have an expiration date. 

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) declared a $0.375 per share quarterly dividend on October 26, up 17.2% from the prior-quarter dividend of $0.320. The dividend was paid on December 7 to shareholders of record on November 12. 

Wedbush analyst Moshe Katri lowered the price target on Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) to $240 from $270 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares on December 20. The analyst observed continued indications of choppy consumer spending, renewed pandemic-driven B&M shutdowns/travel slowdown, and lower spending on non-discretionary items given inflationary pricing pressure on staple goods.

TCI Fund Management is the biggest Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) stakeholder as of September 2021, with the hedge fund owning almost 20 million shares of the company, worth $4.44 billion. Overall, 143 funds were bullish on the stock during Q3. 

Here is what L1 Capital has to say about Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“In our view, the payment network company, Visa, remains very well positioned to participate in an ever-expanding market for electronic payments. In time, ‘Buy now, Pay Later’ may have a modest impact on Visa’s transaction volumes, however in aggregate, we believe it will have the greater effect of supporting growth in electronic payments more broadly. Nearer term, we believe the recovery in international travel as the world gradually normalizes and learns to live with COVID-19 will be materially positive for Visa’s financial performance. eCommerce will also remain a positive key driver for Visa growth.”