Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $198.94 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 723,538 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.7% of Retirement Systems of Alabama's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama's holdings in Visa were worth $198,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verde Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Visa by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 1,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,857,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Visa by 2.8% during the second quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,180 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,409,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. JLB & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% in the second quarter. JLB & Associates Inc. now owns 10,495 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,755,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hayek Kallen Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 21,763 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,712,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BNP Paribas raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Compass Point began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a "buy" rating and a $319.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $324.74.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $314.81. The company had a trading volume of 4,682,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,884,873. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $317.42. The stock has a market cap of $586.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $298.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.71.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.