Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Holdings Increased by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 98,889 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 7,012 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 0.9% of World Investment Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Visa were worth $31,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James reissued 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,585 shares of company stock worth $45,821,697 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.0 %

Visa stock opened at $346.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $643.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $345.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $316.58. 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 (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

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.