Visa Inc. $V Holdings Lifted by Main Street Research LLC

Main Street Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 172,420 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 3.8% of Main Street Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $61,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Visa by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,654,189,000 after purchasing an additional 726,299 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Visa by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,442,157,000 after purchasing an additional 434,217 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,847,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $425.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $340.31 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50-day moving average is $344.10 and its 200 day moving average is $348.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $623.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.11%.

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.