92,654 Shares in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Acquired by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 92,654 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $24,122,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in Visa by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $818,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP lifted its position in Visa by 18.4% in the 2nd quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC lifted its position in Visa by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $275.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $506.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $280.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $261.69. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.87.

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.