StoneX Group Inc. Invests $7.69 Million in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

StoneX Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 24,328 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $7,688,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 44,687 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,287,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1,620.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 72,890 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $20,046,000 after purchasing an additional 68,654 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.8% in the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,101 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $350.68 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.95. The company has a market cap of $651.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a PEG 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.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.