Dark Forest Capital Management LP Acquires 5,686 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 103.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,195 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,686 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.5% of Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $331.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.41. The company has a market capitalization of $616.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

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.