Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 117,463 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,580,091 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 117,463 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Visa worth $499,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Visa Trading Up 1.2 %

Visa stock traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $311.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,226,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,241,971. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $343.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.55. 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 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $579.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, 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 transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.