Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 537,784 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,443 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.0% of Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $183,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of V. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Visa by 2.9% during the second quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its position in Visa by 2.4% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,290 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Daiwa America upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore set a $380.00 price objective on Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $392.29.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $331.82 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $602.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.75 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the 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 sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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.