Bailard Inc. Purchases 600 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bailard Inc. boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,916 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.3% of Bailard Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $42,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after purchasing an additional 763,505 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Visa by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after buying an additional 374,489 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,078,408,000 after buying an additional 85,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Visa by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,542,434 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,734,835,000 after buying an additional 108,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Visa stock traded up $0.40 on Thursday, hitting $275.42. The company had a trading volume of 3,221,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,878,288. The stock has a market capitalization of $505.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.14 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $279.44 and a 200-day moving average of $263.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.72% and a net margin of 53.87%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.58.

Visa Company 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.