Capital World Investors Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Capital World Investors raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.1% of Capital World Investors’ portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Capital World Investors owned about 1.25% of Visa worth $7,356,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after buying an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,512,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,368,000 after purchasing an additional 22,658 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $329.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $340.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.44. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54. The firm has a market cap of $611.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.