Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,772,549 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Geode Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,601,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of V stock opened at $308.30 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $317.42. The stock has a market cap of $574.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $296.38 and a 200 day moving average of $279.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $321.00 price objective (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.41.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.