KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires New Shares in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 686,662 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $217,013,000. Visa makes up approximately 1.0% of KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. King Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in Visa by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $23,663,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $616,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $353.96.

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Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $344.05. 6,184,455 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,694,540. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $342.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $314.42. The stock has a market cap of $639.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

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.