Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,672,400 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,300 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.8% of Swiss National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,284,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. S&CO Inc. increased its position in Visa by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 15,660 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,305,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Visa by 370.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,018,323 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $279,988,000 after acquiring an additional 801,725 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,194 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in Visa by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 744,806 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $204,784,000 after acquiring an additional 243,442 shares during the period. Finally, Ceera Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $941,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $309.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $564.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $275.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $245.60 and a 12 month high of $312.44.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % 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. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Visa 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.