Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by World Equity Group Inc.

World Equity Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 110.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,638 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,533 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Visa by 10.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $267,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 8.1% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 25,833 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $352.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.94. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $357.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $653.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.