Martin Currie Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Martin Currie Ltd. lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 193.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,859 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 94,913 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.7% of Martin Currie Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Martin Currie Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $45,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $345.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,496,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,143,645. 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 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $344.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $316.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $642.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Company 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.