Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Purchases 11,086 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 342,203 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,086 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 2.3% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $119,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 4.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,926 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,162 shares of company stock valued at $58,645,479 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $373.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $688.59 billion, a PE ratio of 37.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $347.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.77. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.80.

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.