Bridgewater Associates LP Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 612,004 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Visa were worth $193,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business'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 transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded down $2.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $329.26. 5,640,095 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,227,437. The company has a market cap of $611.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $340.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.44. 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.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

About Visa

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.