Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 442,059 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 4,301 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.5% of Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $121,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Visa by 4.6% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,263 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Visa by 46.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 50,328 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $14,046,000 after purchasing an additional 16,078 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 16.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 58,506 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $16,328,000 after acquiring an additional 8,086 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.2% in the first quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 4,829 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 11.7% during the first quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. William Blair raised shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $321.74.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE V traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $309.51. The company had a trading volume of 4,046,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,014,890. The stock has a market capitalization of $564.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.34 and a 1-year high of $312.44. The firm's 50 day moving average is $285.26 and its 200-day moving average is $275.17.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.