Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by HS Management Partners LLC

HS Management Partners LLC lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 55,575 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,945 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.5% of HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Visa by 287.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,247,289 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group set a $425.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $335.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.52.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $349.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $340.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $344.14. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $637.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.