World Equity Group Inc. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. $V

World Equity Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,311 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,806 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth approximately $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,769,936,000 after buying an additional 2,429,996 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 110.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,396,930,000 after buying an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after buying an additional 1,067,631 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of V stock opened at $349.75 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $637.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $340.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $344.13. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,247,289 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Hsbc Global Res raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.52.

Visa 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.