Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Purchases 189 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,797 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after buying an additional 763,505 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,272,846,000 after acquiring an additional 374,489 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,078,408,000 after acquiring an additional 85,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,524,329 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,725,079,000 after purchasing an additional 141,566 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on V shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.00.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of V stock traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $277.19. 9,023,259 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,922,005. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $277.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The stock has a market cap of $506.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

Visa Company 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.