Boston Common Asset Management LLC Acquires 14,202 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,531 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,202 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.1% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $35,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 377.3% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Macquarie cut their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.13.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $359.93 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $369.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $332.80. The company has a market capitalization of $664.13 billion, a PE ratio of 36.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Visa 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.