Premier Fund Managers Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 309,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 9,641 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 3.5% of Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Visa were worth $97,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $349.82 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. 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 $649.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $343.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $314.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on V. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

About Visa

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.