Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Holdings Raised by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,725,740 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 121,200 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.0% of Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.09% of Visa worth $545,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,512,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,368,000 after purchasing an additional 22,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on V shares. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Stock Up 3.6 %

V opened at $331.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $616.30 billion, a PE ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $339.57 and a 200-day moving average of $321.41.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.

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