Swiss National Bank Has $1.49 Billion Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,719,000 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 46,600 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.0% of Swiss National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,491,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its position in Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,163,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE V opened at $333.01 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $618.66 billion, a PE ratio of 33.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $337.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up 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 report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

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.