Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Francis Financial Inc.

Francis Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 100.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,597 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the quarter. Francis Financial Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,926 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Visa by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $352.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $655.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.58, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $336.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $326.72. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

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.