Schroder Investment Management Group Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,641,045 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 646,010 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 2.0% of Schroder Investment Management Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,098,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on V. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $342.62 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $343.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.27.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Visa Company Profile

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.