NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Purchases 1,968 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,050 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,968 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on V. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.80.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,991,249.33. This trade represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,448 shares of company stock valued at $50,133,659 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE V opened at $371.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $348.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $684.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

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.