Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Horizon Investments LLC

Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,979 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,262,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Visa by 10.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after acquiring an additional 199,440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $660,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.8 %

V stock opened at $334.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $621.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $338.39 and its 200 day moving average is $311.61.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.