Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 118,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,133 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 3.3% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $37,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after buying an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after buying an additional 123,927 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.3 %

V opened at $361.60 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $333.92 and a 200 day moving average of $306.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The company has a market cap of $671.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

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.