Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 7,079,706 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.9% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.58% of Visa worth $50,378,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded up $3.95 on Thursday, hitting $348.13. The company had a trading volume of 702,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,481,759. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $646.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $342.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $314.42.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment 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.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $353.96.

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.