Putney Financial Group LLC Makes New $1.74 Million Investment in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,509 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,741,000. Visa comprises approximately 1.2% of Putney Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie lowered their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.38.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $354.04 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $341.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.92. The company has a market cap of $653.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $369.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. Company 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.