Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 662,194 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,358 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 4.3% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Visa were worth $226,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc grew its position in Visa by 287.0% in the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $402.52.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $346.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $631.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $339.15 and its 200-day moving average is $343.76.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This trade represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 13,557 shares of company stock valued at $4,586,137 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.