Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. Has $487.33 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,541,994 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 276,598 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 6.3% of Fundsmith Investment Services LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. owned 0.08% of Visa worth $487,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie cut their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.38.

Visa Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of V opened at $349.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The firm has a market cap of $649.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $337.15 and its 200-day moving average is $325.80.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.