Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 52.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 317,960 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,000 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Visa were worth $100,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,576,366,000 after purchasing an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at $69,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc grew its position in Visa by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 3,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 6,221,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,710,465,000 after buying an additional 137,967 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $582.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $345.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $316.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

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.