Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 141,193 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 12,740 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in Visa were worth $44,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 2.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,610,590 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,833,981,000 after buying an additional 345,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Visa by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,416,394 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,783,857,000 after buying an additional 312,286 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.
Visa Stock Up 0.2 %
Shares of NYSE V traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $324.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,997,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,517,379. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $313.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.47. The stock has a market cap of $604.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $325.74.
Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.
Visa Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $332.81.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on V
About Visa
(
Free Report)
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.
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