Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 519,206 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,452 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.4% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Visa were worth $177,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,631 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,769,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,820,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,552,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,665 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $335.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Macquarie cut their price target on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $402.52.

Visa Trading Down 0.7%

V stock opened at $349.75 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $637.15 billion, a PE ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81. 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 one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $340.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $344.13.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,247,289. 0.12% of the stock is currently 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.