Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $921.57 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,915,983 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 181,117 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 2.2% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $921,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. raised its stake in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $334.30 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $338.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $312.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $621.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.