National Pension Service Acquires 52,608 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

National Pension Service increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,544,721 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,608 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.9% of National Pension Service’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. National Pension Service’s holdings in Visa were worth $662,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on V shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.00.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V traded down $0.52 on Thursday, reaching $276.67. 1,383,387 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,870,554. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $277.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.37. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96. The company has a market cap of $506.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.