Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,672,400 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 10,300 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.8% of Swiss National Bank's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.26% of Visa worth $1,284,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Arjuna Capital lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its position in Visa by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,520,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC grew its position in Visa by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $111,331,000 after buying an additional 20,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its stake in Visa by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 58,655 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,299,000 after buying an additional 4,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on V. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $317.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded up $1.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $309.64. The stock had a trading volume of 5,106,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,762,525. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $564.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $245.60 and a 1 year high of $312.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $287.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.95.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.