Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Position Increased by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,531,579 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 75,355 shares during the period. Visa comprises 2.6% of Scotia Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $484,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 4.6% during the fourth 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 grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $5,171,271,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,868,646,000 after purchasing an additional 718,558 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,758,703 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,084,141,000 after buying an additional 173,990 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $332.36 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $343.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $317.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $617.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports 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. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Seven 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

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.