Boston Common Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,329 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 21,651 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 0.8% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $27,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC raised its stake in Visa by 1.1% during the third quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, St. Louis Trust Co boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE V traded up $2.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $319.97. 5,746,152 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,703,089. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $321.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $313.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.59. The stock has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $331.92.

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.