MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 524,199 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 19,727 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.9% of MetLife Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $165,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of V stock opened at $329.26 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54. The firm has a market cap of $611.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $340.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.44. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 predict 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

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.

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