Vident Advisory LLC Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 239.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 282,741 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 199,336 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.6% of Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $89,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,356,614,000 after buying an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $365.23 on Monday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $673.90 billion, a PE ratio of 36.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $329.89.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six 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.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.